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For complete details on concerts, residencies and other events, see CALENDAR.

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Challenging Times
 

As the Corona Virus is rapidly advancing around the globe and nearly everything in our lives has come to a full stop, we must remain vigilant in our faith, maintaining health precautions and helping those in need.

 

Obviously among those most heavily impacted in their careers and livelihoods are performing artists, venues, technical crews and other support staff. Broadway shows are shuttered closed. All concert, festival and club performances have been cancelled, leaving musicians and their community devastated with no clear idea when things will return to “normal”- i.e., if there will EVER be any such a return to pre-pandemic conditions.

 

Every school and university is closed. Lifelong educators like myself are now confronted with the bold challenge of teaching all classes online, including ensemble performance classes. Rather than cowering under the pressure, I rather view this moment as an opportunity to learn as much as possible about optimizing multitrack audio/video web conferencing technologies and interactive music apps to create a robust learning environment online for our students.

 

We will all get through this crisis, however the socio-economic impact will be deep and protracted, its ripples felt for years. It will demand great vision, timely and appropriate resources and intervention from all federal, state and local legislators and service organizations whose mission is to help all of us in need of support that transcends the mere financial aspect. The bitter, toxic divisiveness borne of twisted commercial and social media has torn this country apart these last 3.5 years. It has exacted a numbing toll of chronic community indifference and spiritual bankruptcy.

 

It is times like these when music and the arts in general can and MUST continue to serve a vital role in our own recovery: economic, professional, social, spiritual and psychological.

 

I remain firmly dedicated to creating, sharing and teaching music through whatever means are available to me and my community of artists. We must all heal ourselves and each other for the short and long term as this pandemic unravels.

Please do visit my site often for updates of an artistic and humanitarian nature.

 

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PERFORMANCES & BROADCASTS 

Diálogos Duo

Premiere of "A Dozen Choro Tributes"
presented by the NYC Classical Guitar Society
 

Complete concert VIDEO and AUDIO is on the DUO HOMEPAGE.

BROADCASTS

Live Tracks from the premiere will be broadcast on two dates:

American Public Radio's "Performance Today" hosted by FRED CHILD.

Tuesdays: February 25 and May 26

NOTE: Shows stream on APR SITE FOR 30 days after initial broadcast.

The Duo recently performed live on WKCR-FM (Columbia University) for the annual Jobim Birthday Marathon.

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• RECORDINGS •

NEW CD: "CHORO TRIBUTES"

The Duo has just completed recording "A Dozen Choro Tributes" as the featured work for our second CD, "Choro Tributes".

CD RELEASE CONCERTS are in the planning stages.

The main CD RELEASE EVENT will be hosted by the BRAZILIAN CONSULATE OF NEW YORK. Stay tuned for details.

Although CD release concerts were planned to begin in early April, the current acute health crisis has postponed any existing dates or plans to reschedule such events.

In the meantime, it is Diálogos Duo’s clear intention to make our newest and most important work accessible to the public.

 

CHORO TRIBUTES will soon be available to:

* preview tracks 

* purchase digital download and CD

* read composer commentary and view cover art

* learn about the Duo’s outreach to share this repertoire with the academic community
 

We sincerely appreciate your support of our work and patience as we and all musicians around the globe are navigating uncharted waters and bearing the crisis’s direct impact on our artistic and educational careers.

For the latest updates:

JOIN THE DUO E MAIL LIST and receive our periodic DIGITAL NEWSLETTER.

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I’ve just presented a lecture about CHORO TRIBUTES events at 

DENVER UNIVERSITY / Lamont School of Music  (March 12-13).

VIDEO excerpts will soon be available on the site.

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• CD REVIEWS •

Diálogos Duo

CLARINET JOURNAL   
(International Clarinet Association)

"The performers give lovely renditions of these works. Louis Arques plays with a refined sound on both soprano and bass clarinets. Boukas is an excellent guitarist. While all of his compositions have a stylistic basis in traditional Brazilian popular music, they reflect his own more complex artistic sensibility. Perhaps this is nova brasilidade, in the same spirit as Piazzola's tango nuevo."

 

RIFFTIDES by DOUG RAMSEY

 

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• NEW COMPOSITIONS • 

• EMBOLADA, an extended piece composed for the brilliant clarinet quartet SOPROS de PE, from Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. I met the ensemble at this year's ICA CONVENTION (Int'l Clarinet Assoc.).

• ILLUMINADO, commissioned by guitarist Joe Carter for the annual Jobim Festival VII at Sacred Heart University (Fairfield CT). The tribute to Jobim was to be performed by alto flutist Ali Ryerson and Carter, professor and director of music programs at the university. However, the festival and premiere of my piece was canceled due to the health crisis.

DIÁLOGOS DUO 

• "Three Choros for Bass Clarinet and Guitar" which are adaptations of existing choros originally scored for larger ensembles. 

• "Cantos do Nordeste" featuring the rich and diverse genres from Brazil's Northeast.
The work will consist of fifteen movements, including solo guitar interludes.

As with all previous suites, each movement is a tribute to an illustrious Brazilian composer/musician:

Luiz Gonzaga, Jackson do Pandeiro, Sivuca, Hermeto Pascoal, Spok Frevo, Capiba, Pé de Serra, Dominguinhos, Nations (nações) of Maracatu among others.

There are now fifty pieces composed for Diálogos Duo since its founding in fall 2016.
When completed, these sixth and seventh suites will expand our repertoire to sixty-five pieces.

• I am preparing several adaptations of Duo repertoire for clarinetist-professor Victor Chávez and pianist Eunsuk Jung. Both faculty at Univ. Tennessee/Knoxville. The adapted repertoire will be performed in the future. I met professor Chávez last July year at ClarinetFest 2019, where Diálogos performed. 

VISIT the ICA PAGE

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 • EDUCATION •

Mannes Duo Residency

Spring 2020 semester Diálogos Duo is currently presenting a comprehensive DUO RESIDENCY at Mannes / New School for the Performing Arts.

Using "A Dozen Choro Tributes" as repertoire, graduate student clarinetists and guitarists have been participating in several masterclasses. A concert was planned for April 23, however all events at New School have been canceled.

Excerpts from the residency were videoed and will comprise a more extensive documentation of the residency for future educational use.

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• PRIVATE STUDY NEWS •

• My PRIVATE TEACHING In-Studio and Online continues to serve a broad community of musicians around the globe.p

For more INFO on DISTANCE LEARNING and PREPAID BLOCK RATE DISCOUNTS see my PRIVATE STUDY PAGE.
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Thank you for your interest and support during these very challenging times, and I look forward to sharing exciting new musical and educational events with you in the near future.

JOIN E-MAIL LIST

VISIT YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Musically,

Richard Boukas