Music

In a series of fall concerts at Notre Dame and in South Bend, Chicago, Washington and New York, members of the Notre Dame community are exposed to a musical sound - earthy yet elegant - that was born in Rio during the late 19th century, even older than bossa nova or samba, based on European salon music. This sound is choro, or chorinho, a traditional and beautiful instrumental music that is enjoying a revived popularity in Brazil today and is being discovered just now by world music lovers everywhere. Although it was music "of the people," from its very beginning it attracted the interest of well-schooled musicians. A new generation of polished instrumentalists has moved this art form forward, while still preserving the essence of the choro tradition.

Choro is a uniquely Brazilian style, open to improvisation, which realizes its full potential through live performance.