Choro Ensemble

Choro Ensemble captures the authentic, swinging sounds of Choro music with dazzling instrumental virtuosity, opening Joe’s Pub’s Brazilian Guitars series in association with the New York Guitar Festival. Choro originated in Rio de Janeiro in the 19th century, evolving from a blend of European styles like fado, polka, waltz,and mazurka and the emerging Afro-Brazilian samba, with arrangements that are typically rich and lush, moving easily from haunting melancholy to sheer joy. New York’s only group dedicated exclusively to the preservation and perpetuation of this once-endangered musical form best identified with the celebrated composer Pixinguinha, Choro Ensemble play with a charming sound that moves from earthiness to elegance, with its own original contemporary Choros as well along with pearls of the repertoire. Featuring Pedro Ramos (cavaquinho and band leader), Carlinhos Almeida (7 string guitar), Gustavo Dantas (7 string guitar), Anat Cohen (clarinet) and Ze Mauricio (percussion), Choro Ensemble brings together some of the premier performers of Brazilian music in New York, who have individually and collectively played with Wynton Marsalis’s Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Cyro Baptista’s “Beat the Donkey”, Yo Yo Ma, Beth Carvalho, Martinho da Vila, Zeca Pagodinho and Vernon Reid.