The West Coast premiere of Escenas del Iguazú with the Sequoia Symphony Orchestra

I’m excited to share that Escenas del Iguazú will have its West Coast premiere on Saturday, March 11th with the Sequoia Symphony Orchestra led by Maestro Bruce Kiesling.

Honored and grateful to Maestro Kiesling and the Sequoia Symphony for programming Escenas which highlights and rejoices the beauty of Iguazú Falls in South America by focusing on four select scenes from my travels visiting this natural wonder of the world.

Here’s a little bit about the work:

My love for Las Cataratas de Iguazú (Iguazú Falls) started when my husband and I visited the Iguazú National Park for our belated honeymoon back in 2018. Iguazú Falls borders Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay and it is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. We visited the Brazilian and Argentinian sides to get various perspectives and splendid views of the waterfalls.. When we first arrived, the place struck me as magical. It contained this wonderful energy, fresh clean air that brought vitality back into my being, and a wide array of amazing and powerful waterfalls. In the Guarani language, “y” means water and “ûasú” means “big”. Legend has it that a deity planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In a rage, the deity sliced the river, creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. I had to find a way to capture it through music and in the summer of 2022 I was asked for an orchestral commission by the Winter Park High School Orchestra and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to pay tribute to the beauty and magic of Iguazú Falls by writing Escenas del Iguazú.

To be programmed with such greats like Debussy and Respighi is a tremendous honor. Immense gratitude to be included among such giants.

Looking forward to meeting the musicians and many of the concertgoers this Saturday, March 11 at the Visalia Fox Theater.