Festival Events
The sixth annual Berkeley Festival of Choro will present two special concerts this fall. October 12th and 13th.
The MAIN EVENT on October 12th at 7:00pm will be held at the St. Mark's
Episcopal Church in Berkeley on October 12th
featuring Gileno Santana and Henrique Neto duo, special guest Francois de Lima and the Oakland Public School Wind Collective led by Zack Pitt-Smith.
The program opens with a set of choros by composer Ernesto Nazareth, arranged for wind ensemble, and conducted by Zack Pitt-Smith.
This set will feature the Oakland Public Schools Wind Collective, composed of talented high school wind players from Oakland.
Trombonist François de Lima performs a set next, composed of choro, bossa nova, samba and more, with pianist Marcos Silva and percussionist Brian Rice
Grammy-nominated Brazilian valve-trombonist, François de Lima, is one of the founders of Banda Mantiqueira and has earned worldwide acclaim for the swing in his interpretations and the creativity of his improvisations. François has toured all over the world and recorded with many world-renown Brazilian artists including Amilton Godoy, who was part of the 2018 Berkeley Festival of Choro. He has performed at Carnegie Hall. In 1992, de Lima was a founding member of Banda Mantiqueira, a Brazilian big band and important voice on the Brazilian scene. The band’s album Aldeia was nominated for a 1997 Latin Grammy for “Best Latin Jazz Performance.”
Duo Inevitál with trumpeter Gileno Santana and guitarist Henrique Neto will perform selections from their CD of the same name.
Gileno Santana and Henrique Neto Duo
Gileno Santana is highly praised by musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Claudio Roditi, James Morrison, Thomas Gansch, Gábor Tarkövi. He creates a unique sound where notes, sometimes intense, sometimes soft, merge into lyrical tones of rare beauty.
Guitarist Henrique Neto is Deputy Director of the Escola Brasileira de Choro Raphael Rabello in Brasilia. Henrique has been a member of the Choro Livre group for 10 years, which, besides being the most traditional choro group in Brasilia, accompanies guest artists at Clube do Choro in Brasília. In that capacity and others he has worked with some of the biggest names in Brazilian música popular. He has performed in more than fifteen countries on four continents. Henrique is the co-author, with Dudu Maia, of the Choro Handbook.