Flauta
sin Fronteras Tours U.S.-Mexico Border with Support from the PCAH
Flauta sin Fronteras features Elena Durán, a flutist
who has performed with many of the world's major orchestras. Her
passion is to use music as a bridge between cultures and this new tour
will follow the arc of the U.S.– Mexican border from Matamoros
to El Paso. The tour is one of several such artist cultural exchanges
over the last several years supported through the President's Committee
on the Arts and Humanities in partnership with the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation
and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
World-renowned Mexican-American flutist Elena Durán is performing
in towns along the U.S.-Mexico border, a tour supported through PCAH and
its cultural partners.
Durán’s Flauta sin Fronteras tour aims to promote
appreciation and greater understanding of Mexican and American music and
culture on both sides of the border. Her concerts will feature the best
of both American and Mexican music, including such composers as Gershwin,
Copland, Barber, Bernstein and Ponce, Blas Galindo, España and
Prado. Typical of this tour are the kinds of “encuentros”
she conducted in Nuevo Laredo in April where she performed at a school
for disabled children, a senior center and an orphanage.
“There are many people in the border region who need music and
the arts, but who have little or no access to them in the normal course
of their lives. While this is true for many people in both countries,
the need is all the greater in this area because of the tensions which
are inherent in the geographical situation and in the present political
climate,” says Durán.
Chairman Adair Margo met Durán, tour manager Michael Emmerson
and Duran’s accompanist Fausto Diaz in the Fall of 2006 during Duran’s
earlier tour of the border region. After their meeting, Margo and the
President’s Committee took steps to support this current tour by
Durán.
Margo said of Duran’s artistry, “Through the beautiful, fragile
sounds of her flute, Elena Duran shares melodies that have brought meaning
to her bi-cultural life. Her greatest joy is in taking these songs to
people along the U.S./Mexico border who need it most – the homeless,
the elderly, the orphaned and the disenfranchised – and, in doing
so, bringing meaning to their lives, too.”
Her own heritage as Mexican-American has helped shape Durán’s
passion for the border and its mix of cultures. Durán’s distinguished
career as a flautist has included studying with Jean Pierre Rampal, playing
with Paul McCartney and Stephane Grappelli, and performing with major
orchestras here and abroad.
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