“The Galician Bagpipe diva is renowned for her dramatic performances, but what counts is her skill and familiarity with that octopus of an instrument, the gaita” BBC

AND THE CRISTINA PATO QUARTETPERFORM LATINA

Cristina Pato is a modern day Renaissance woman. A pop star of the ‘gaita’ (the Galician bagpipe) in her native Spain, she moved to New York to attain her Doctorate in collaborative piano and push her career in an entirely different direction. Pato daringly skirts the boundaries of jazz, classical and world music, and in her recent album LATINA, she and her band The Cristina Pato Quartet delve into the musical diaspora of latin music. In her own words: “it is a way to embrace my heritage through music exploring the connections between the country of origin of the word [Latina], Italy, and the countries that are nowadays considered Latino. Using the metaphor of one of the essential rhythms of traditional music: the 6/8, LATINA is a musical journey that begins with the Italian Tarantella and travels through Spain and Latin American 6/8 rhythms like the Joropo or the colombian Llano; the peruvian Festejo or the Galician muiñeira.”

Pato has also made a name for herself as a break-out member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. She often steals the show with her passionate, energetic performances on stages throughout the world and was featured in Morgan Neville’s (20 Feet From Stardom) documentary about the Silk Road Ensemble, The Music of Strangers, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in the fall of 2015. Pato, whose 2013 jazz album Migrations was met with great critical acclaim, is a virtuoso powerhouse: as the New York Times raves, “when she opens the floodgates of her tech-nique...the force can knock you back a few steps.”

“[LATINA] explores all kinds of great sounds, textures and rhythms from the Latin world...highly unusual, enormously vital.” NPR

“Her sound is wild, feral yet virtuosic and breathtakingly fast.” New YoRk Music DailY

“The Cristina Pato Quartet gets under the skin of this long-limbed joyous masterpiece, performing with a lovely flexible sense of timing. This is truly a miraculous piece of music by a musician whose star is certainly on the rise.” The woRlD Music RePoRT

cristinapato.com

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMSWORLD MUSIC TODAY FROM GALICIA TO THE SILK ROADExplore the evolution of world music in a culture of increasingly intermingled traditions and discover how an artist maintains an authentic voice in this environment.

THE REMARKABLE HISTORY OF THE BAGPIPESDiscuss the history of the bagpipes and their role in Galician culture and learn just how difficult it is to play them.CULTURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND NEW LEADERSHIP IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRYLearn about the development of Cristina’s annual “Galician Connection Festival” and the unique perspective of female artists in their career development.GALICIA IN THE WORLD OF WORLD MUSICExamine Galicia’s ancient connection to Celtic music well as traditional Spanish music.IMPROVISATION IN MUSICHow does improvisation differ in jazz, world and pop music? Could improvisation find a place in classical music?COMMENTS FROM STUDENTS & FACULTY ABOUT HER PERFORMANCE/WORKSHOP AT FROSTBURG STATE UNIVERSITY“Wonderful show! So nice to get something different and interesting. I loved the setting as well as the performer. Based on audience participation I guess we all did! Cristina and her band were very friendly and at ease with the audience. I very much enjoyed the Q and A session.”

“It is always insightful to get the artist’s perspective on their work and she shared more about her culture and its influence on her work.”