Danzas Latinoamericanas is a lively and energetic suite inspired by tango dances from South America including the Argentinian tango, Brazilian bossa nova, and Mexican jarabe tapatío. Josh was recommended this duet by our strings professor, Dr. Estrada, and we fell in love with this piece while playing it together. Emily had the incredible opportunity to visit Argentina with the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and this piece reminds her of the tango dancing she saw. The melodies represent two dancers, intertwined, flowing seamlessly together much like our friendship.

José L. Elizondo is a living composer from Mexico born in 1972. He has graduated from both MIT and Harvard with a mix of music and electrical engineering. His main work combines artificial technology, linguistics, and computer science and he composes on the side. Elizondo’s compositions have been performed all across the world and recorded by legends such as Yo-Yo Ma. He also makes many of his works available to the public for free with numerous instrumentations, encouraging public performances of his work.