For over 40 years, Cuarteto Latinoamericano has been one of the most celebrated string quartets in the world and, in addition to the regular repertoire for quartet (European and North American), specializes in works by Latin American composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos, Alberto Ginastera and others. and Silvestre Revueltas.
Awards
Since its founding in Mexico (1982), the quartet has performed regularly in Europe, the Americas, Israel, China, Japan and New Zealand. Cuarteto latinoamericano has also premiered more than a hundred works written especially for Cuarteto and continues to regularly and successfully highlight new and forgotten composers. Winner of two Latin Grammys for “Best Classical Recordings”, they were also awarded the prestigious Diapason d'Or. They were also recognized by the award of the Mexican Music Critics Association Award and received three Most Adventurous Programming awards from Chamber Music America/ASCP.
Grammys
Cuarteto Latinoamericano's members are three Bitran brothers: violinists Saul and Aron and cellist Alvaro, with violist Javier Montiel. They have recorded more than 80 CDs, including nearly the entire Latin American repertoire for string quartet. Volume 6 of their Villa-Lobos cycle of 17 string quartets on Dorian, was nominated for a Grammy and a Latin Grammy for Best Chamber Music Recording. Their albums "Brasileiro, works of Mignone" (2012) and "El Hilo Invisible" (2016) won Latin Grammys for Best Classical Recording. The work Inca Dances by Gabriela Lena Frank, recorded by Cuarteto Latinoamericano with Manuel Barrueco, won the 2009 Latin Grammy for Best New Latin Composition.
Collaborations
The Cuarteto has performed as soloist with many orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz, Ottawa's National Arts Center Orchestra, the Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, the Dallas Symphony and the Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela, under Eduardo Mata. They have performed in some of the world's most distinguished halls and music festivals, including the Concertgebouw, Teatro alla Scala, the Esterházy Palace, the Kennedy Center, Ravinia Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Ojai Festival. They have collaborated with celebrated artists over the years including cellist János Starker, pianists Rudolph Buchbinder and Cyprien Katsaris, tenor Ramón Vargas, guitarists Narciso Yepes, Sharon Isbin, David Tanenbaum, and Manuel Barrueco. With Barrueco they have performed extensively in some of the most important venues of the US and Europe, commissioned guitar quintets from American composers Miguel del Aguila, Michael Daugherty and Gabriela Lena Frank, and recorded two CDs.
El Sistema - Latin American Academy for String Quartets
Under the auspices of the Sistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles of Venezuela, the Cuarteto created the Latin American Academy for String Quartets, based in Caracas, which served as a training ground for eight select young string quartets from the Sistema. Until 2014, the Cuarteto visited the Academy four times a year.
For twenty years they were quartet-in-residence at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Since 2004, they have been recipients of the México en Escena grants given by the Mexican government through FONCA (National Fund for Culture and the Arts).
Miniatures from the Americas
Jose Evangelista (Spain/Canada, b. 1943)
Manuel M. Ponce (Mexico, 1882-1948): Estrellita and Gavota
Alejandro Cardona (Costa Rica, 1959): Echú (2010)
George Gershwin (USA, 1898-1937): Lullaby (1918)
Miguel del Aguila (Uruguay, 1957): Presto No. 2 (1995)
Dan Roman (Puerto Rico, 1974): Montuno Fever (2014)
Violeta Parra (Chile, 1917-1967): Anticueca No. 2 (arrang. J.Montiel)
Francisco Mignone (Brazil, 1897-1986): Andante cantabile (1958)
Javier Alvarez (Mexico, 1956): Metro Chabacano (1991)
Carlos Gardel (Argentina,1890.1935): Volver (arr. Enrique Lopez)
Carlos Gardel (Argentina,1890.1935): Por una cabeza (arr. Enrique Lopez)
Astor Piazzolla (Argentina, 1921-1992): Four for Tango (1987)
Latin American Classics
Héitor Villa-Lobos String Quartet No. 5
Silvestre Revueltas (Mexico) Música de Feria
Leo Brouwer (Cuba) String Quartet No. 3
Alberto Ginastera String Quartet No. 2
Mixed program
Héitor Villa-Lobos String Quartet No. 5
Silvestre Revueltas(Mexico) Música de Feria
Leo Brouwer (Cuba) String Quartet No. 3
Claude Debussy String Quartet
Johannes Brahms String Quartet Op. 51 No. 2
Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet Op. 59 No. 2
Works for Quartet and Orchestra
Julián Orbón Concerto Grosso (with symphony orchestra)
Astor Piazzolla Las Estaciones Porteñas (Four seasons of Buenos Aires), arranged for quartet and string orchestra