by Jarrett Hoffman
It’s as if she knew him. Both in her words and in her playing, Paraguayan guitarist Berta Rojas conveys a special warmth and familiarity when it comes to her countryman Agustín Barrios, who was the subject of her virtual recital for the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society on August 15.
by Jarrett Hoffman
Paraguayan guitarist Berta Rojas was set to make her Cleveland debut on March 14 in a presentation by the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society. Then the coronavirus crisis intervened.
Now, Rojas and the Guitar Society have worked out an alternative. On Saturday, August 15 at 7:30 pm, she’ll give a free, pre-recorded online concert, broadcast on YouTube and entirely devoted to the music of Agustín Barrios Mangoré, a fellow Paraguayan who lived from 1885 to 1944.
That programming choice shouldn’t surprise anyone who was looking forward to her concert in March, which would have been all-Barrios during its second half. It also shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s followed Rojas’ career, from her 2008 album Intimate Barrios to her four-year tour, “In the Footsteps of Mangoré,” with clarinetist and saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera.