La cathedral berta rojas biography
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Berta Rojas – The Enigma of Arrival
I rarely conduct interviews using email and don’t really like doing them over the telephone either. In my view, the talking and listening – more listening than talking, as I prefer it to be – is best done in person, and preferably in a quiet space where I can savour (I use the gastronomic term, “savour”, because it suggests a rather visceral experience), in this case the sound of the words; the way they are intoned gives them a particular colour and texture. They are alive, these words spoken by the person with whom I speak. Alphabets strung together and which ring and resonate making a particular luxurious sound, echoing in this quiet space have more meaning; accented vowels and diphthongs that are formed by the curl of the lips, blushing purple and rushing to meet the wind between her and I sitting close together from music not only to my ears but seem to float their ghostly visages across my eyes. I get so ravenously hungry in situations like this that I devour each word, each phrase and sentence as if I were receiving Holy Communion itself. And so hot are these to the touch of my skin that they burn themselves in the memory.
Rarely, if at all, such incredible magic takes place over the telephone. And when it does
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2019
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Berta Rojas honors Agustín Barrios in Guitar Society virtual recital (Aug. 15)
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.
Variety has been an emphasis of many recent steamed programs, and this was no exception. Four solo works, two duos, and one guitar-ensemble performance were interwoven with remarks from Rojas, her own conversations with Marcelo Enrique Barrios (the great grandson of Agustín Barrios), and readings from the composer’s letters, all pre-recorded.
The spoken word proved an important element of the evening. It was clear that Marcelo Enrique Barrios has a powerful dedication to his family history, and Rojas, with her uniquely gentle and thoughtful manner, communicated a sincere love and gratitude for the composer.
Transitions from one segment to the next were slickly produced, if a bit brisk. Was there a fear that audiences watching at home on their devices would be easily distracted? A more relaxed pace would have allowed the words to sink in, especially given the alternating English and Spanish audio