By: Jesse Rosenberg
The University of Nevada, Reno’s 2023-2024 Performing Arts Series season commences with a performance by LADAMA — an all-female ensemble whose respective cultures combine to create an innovative musical experience.
On Thursday, Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m., LADAMA will provide a musical experience like none other for audience members at Nightingale Concert Hall. Comprised of four women of virtuosic musical and educational prowess, LADAMA is the solution to unifying communities on a global scale by way of music.
In cooperation with the Washoe County Library System, LADAMA will also present a free and open-to-the-public event at the Sparks Library on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 11:00 a.m., where they will speak about their work together as an ensemble that challenges borders and investigates music between and across continents and cultures. There is no pre-registration required.
Originating in 2014 through a serendipitous meet at renowned fellowship and residency program OneBeat — an initiative of the U.S. Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs — musicians Lara Klaus, Daniela Serna and Maria Gonzalez connected through their shared love of music and desire to enact change in their communities across South America. Soon after, with a determination to broaden their influence globally, they would include United States-based performer Sara Lucas in their lineup.
Gonzalez, hailing from Venezuela, is a bandola llanera performer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator. Her deep knowledge of the male-dominated tradition of bandola llanera serves to bring the instrument to an equitable, intersectional place of improvisation and performance. Klaus, as well as sharing the same titles as Gonzalez, is a Brazilian singer and music therapist who has dedicated her talents to mastering traditional percussion instruments and rhythms of Northeast Brazil and has traveled around the globe to both teach and perform. Serna is a Colombian percussionist, sound artist, composer and educator. With a mastery of global rock and pop idioms, she has been the recipient of awards for her innovation of sonic soundscapes and dedication to Caribbean Colombian rhythms. Lucas is a New York-based singer-songwriter, guitarist and music producer who is the founder of Callers, an acclaimed indie rock collaboration that has led her to tour worldwide.
“LADAMA’s artistry exemplifies the beauty and power found within the cross-pollination — from the coming-together of people regardless of artistic style, country or other factors in an individual’s upbringing,” Angelo Monroy, program coordinator with the School of the Arts, said.
LADAMA individual tickets are $40 (Adult), $38 (Senior/UNR Faculty and Staff), $16 (Youth), and $5 (University of Nevada, Reno students). Tickets can be purchased online or at the box office the night of the show (at the event venue one hour before the performance).
