Choronas stroll through Brazilian rhythms
and enchant audiences
Choro, baião, maxixe and samba! The most popular rhythms of Brazilian
music make up the varied repertoire of Choronas, which since 1994
enchants and moves the audience all over Brazil and abroad. Traditional
works mingle with more recent ones in performances of the group, formed
by Gabriela Machado (flute), Ana Claudia César (cavaquinho), Paola
Picherzky (seven-string guitar) and Miriam Capua (percussion).
With refined technique, Choronas has performed with important Brazilian
orchestras and participated in concerts by renowned artists. Their broad
musical knowledge also allows the group to develop cultural and
pedagogical projects of importance and recognized by specialized critics.
This path of multiple activities has been recorded on four albums, and has
motivated invitations for performances in Brazil and abroad.
Albums
Choronas consolidated the repertoire of careful interpretations in three
critically acclaimed albums:
“Atraente” (“Attractive”) was released in March 2000, at Centro Cultural
São Paulo/SP.
• "The young ladies play with energy and technique, and it is hard to tell
which one is the best." Mauro Dias - O Estado de São Paulo - March 2000.
• "Choro is an ideal of friendliness and this album couldn’t be friendlier.
Those who like choro must listen to Choronas." Arthur Nestrovski - Folha
de São Paulo - April 2000.
• "The four musicians of Choronas meet with praise the magical condition
that keeps the longevity of the choro as a genre: the practice of freshness."
Josiane Lopes - Bravo Magazine - May 2000.
In 2001, the group released the album Atraente at the Satchmo
Theater, in Lima, at the invitation of the Embassy of Brazil in Peru,
and "Diva" Producciones, a member of the Network of Cultural
Promoters of Latin America and the Caribbean.
“Choronas Convida” (“Choronas Invite”) was released in 2003, at
SESC Pompéia/SP, in a concert with the special participation of great
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musicians such as Alceu Maia, Grupo Madeira de Vento and Aleh
Ferreira. Again, the critics welcomed their work with praise:
• "It was about time this second album by Choronas was released.
The grace of our music played with unpretentiousness and
friendliness." Arthur Nestrovski – Folha de São Paulo December/2003
• "There are exquisite interpretations of classics and hidden gems of
Waldyr Azevedo, Pixinguinha, Paulinho da Viola, Hermeto Pascoal,
Jacob do Bandolim, K-Ximbinho and Chico Buarque. Nothing more
ideal for those whose starting point was such an attractive purpose.
The redundancy of women who cry is not up to them." Lauro Lisboa
Garcia - O Estado de S. Paulo - March/2004.
• "The issue here is not of gender, but of degree: they play great! In
Choronas Convida, an outpouring of classic choro!" Vida Simples
Magazine - October/2003.
The album Choronas Convida was also released internationally at
the "Festival do Avante ", held in Lisbon.
“Brasil Toca Choro”, (“Brazil Plays Choro”) released in 2007, is a
record of the concerts on the project "10 Years, 10 Brazilian Cities"
(2005), in which Choronas played with musicians from different
regions of the country. This contact contributed to the elaboration of
a repertoire consisting of little known songs alongside with classics of
choro. Brasil Toca Choro was released in 2008, at SESC Pompéia, in
São Paulo. Here is how the work was welcomed by the press:
• “It was during a tour of the four corners of the country, for about
three years, that made Choronas realized that 'Brasil Toca Choro'
(Brazil plays choro). They decided to gather in a single compilation
the musical material and part of the work of the talented people
which they met in all their wanderings.” Lívia Deodato - O Estado de
S. Paulo - April 2008.
• “Challenging the view that the good choro is only played in the RioSão Paulo region, Choronas traveled the country and joined
geographies and talents on the album Brasil Toca Choro, a heartfelt
tribute to the Brazilian chorões.” Júlia Lopes - Diário do Nordeste April/2008.
• “The album was born from touring the country, on occasions when
they met local artists and invited them to play. Their gatherings
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yielded the new work that reveals talents.” Débora de Aquino - Sax &
Metais - July 2008.
The album "Brasil Toca Choro" also had international release with
two concerts at Stallet Luso Festival, in Stockholm (Sweden).
Joaquim Antonio Callado is the title of the album that the group
recorded, also in 2007, to accompany the songbook of this composer,
invited by the Choro Music label. A contemporary of Chiquinha Gonzaga, the
flutist Joaquim Callado is considered one of the creators of the choro, genre
that became popular in Rio de Janeiro in the second half of the nineteenth
century.
Pedagogical Project
The development of educational projects for children and youth, with
didactic performances of instrumental music in schools, is one of the
primary activities of Choronas in their devotion to Brazilian rhythms. This
is a result of the formation of the group, whose musicians also act
individually in education.
2011 - "A stroll through Brazilian popular music" was presented
throughout the year at SESI - Industry Social Services schools, in 20 cities
of São Paulo state, as part of the Project of Music Education /2011.
2010 and 2004 - "From Polka to Samba" educational project developed
at CEUs (Unified Educational Centers) in the city of São Paulo.
1998 - "Brazilian Instrumental Music in Schools" was Choronas’s first
educational project, approved in 1998 under the Law for Incentive to
Culture, sponsored by the Department of Culture of the State of São Paulo.
A total of 18 concerts were performed in schools in the city of São Paulo.
The concert presented rhythms such as the polka, maxixe, choro, samba
and baião in a playful way, telling peculiar stories of the composers and of
that time.
Cultural Projects
Choronas also develops cultural projects, approved by the Incentive Laws,
to offer comprehensive overviews of traditional Brazilian popular music to
the general public in an accessible way.
2012 - "O Brasil Toca Choro" was the show produced by the group for a
series of eight performances in the countryside of São Paulo. The series was
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included in the PROAC - Cultural Action Program, promoted by the
government of the State of São Paulo.
2005 - “Choronas 10 years, 10 Brazilian cities” was sponsored by the
Votorantim Group. The concert was presented in Belo Horizonte, Salvador,
Itamarati, Recife, Belém, Curitiba, Esteio/RS, Alumínio/SP, São José dos
Campos/SP and Poços de Caldas/MG. The repercussion along the media
was:
• "Choronas travel Brazil playing good music and showing their talent."
• "The magical atmosphere of Choronas has already charmed audiences in
several parts of Brazil, displaying a technical spectacle valued by a
handpicked national repertoire."
• "The choro, one of the most national and lyrical genres, becomes even
more poetic and smooth in the sounds of the quartet Choronas."
Orchestras
Another frequent activity of the group is to perform with accompanying
orchestras.
• Their premiere was in 2001, at the invitation of the Women's Chamber
Orchestra, for the operetta “A Noiva do Condutor” (“The Driver’s Bride”), by
Noel Rosa, with performances in São Paulo capital, Campos do Jordão and
Belém (PA).
• In 2005, Choronas performed at the Avon Women in Concert project, in
Campos do Jordão/SP in a special concert recorded by Cultura TV.
Important arrangers of Brazilian music - Laercio de Freitas, Paulo Tiné,
Celso Del Neri and Edmilson Capelupi - were invited to create new
arrangements for an exclusively female orchestra to perform the
interpretations already recorded in albums by Choronas.
• Since then, Choronas have been accompanied by various orchestras such
as the Symphony Orchestra of St. André, the Guri Project, the Youth
Symphonic Band, the Jazz Youth Symphony, the Philharmonic Orchestra of
São Caetano do Sul (2010) and Symphony Orchestra Santos (2011).
Artists’ Shows
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Besides the dedicated musicians who participated in the album "Choronas
Convida" - Roberto Sion, Alceu Maia, Madeira de Vento, Jane do Bandolim,
Aleh Ferreira, among others - the group has performed alongside Toninho
Ferragutti, Jair Rodrigues and the flute master Altamiro Carrilho, considered
one of the greatest exponents of Brazilian instrumental music of all times.
TV Shows
On TV, Choronas have participated in programs such as Jô Soares Onze e
Meia, Almanaque, Circular, Hebe Camargo, Ronnie Von, Metrópolis,
Mosaico, Mulheres and Sonidos del Mundo (Peruvian TV).
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