11th Chicago Latin Music Festival Lineup of Latin American and Classical Music Announced

The 11th Chicago Latino Music Festival, a program of the International Latino Cultural Center (ILCC) and Chicago’s only Latino-focused classical music festival, has announced the lineup for this year’s event. The festival will take place September 8 – December 1, 2016 at multiple venues throughout Chicago and a special performance in Bogotá, Colombia. Showcasing programming from the Baroque to the 21st Century, the festival features international artists such as Spanish classical guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas, Dúo Belcorde (Manuel Briega, violin, and Adrián Fernández, Spanish guitar), internationally renowned Mexican pianist Mauricio Náder and Colombia’s Cuarteto Q-Arte plus Chicago’s Avalon String Quartet, Baroque Ensemble, Chicago Arts Orchestra and the University of Illinois Orchestra.

Produced by the ILCC with artistic directors and composers Gustavo Leone (Argentinian-born) and Elbio Barilari (Uruguay-born), the annual Chicago Latino Music Festival also serves to develop the careers of Latino composers by commissioning new pieces. This year’s commissions are from Colombian composer Blas Atehortúa and Leone. Both of the commissioned works will be premiered by the Chicago Latino Music Festival in Colombia, prior to being performed here, as part of a cultural exchange funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

The Chicago Latino Music Festival also sponsors an artist-in-residence program for Chicago-based musicians that focus on the dissemination of the Ibero-American repertoire. The KAIA String Quartet is the 2016 ensemble-in-residence, performing in the festival on Thursday, October 6 at Harold Washington Library.

For more information, including how to reserve or purchase concert tickets, visit http://latinomusicfest.org