Flávia Nascimento & Itamar Erez

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FLAVIA NASCIMENTO

Born in Brazil, Flávia Nascimento starts her artistic career there as an actress, after graduating from the University Theatre in Belo Horizonte.  She is notably a part of the play The Cruscible, goes on tour for a year with the musical comedy Mulheres de Hollanda and co-founded the mass education theatre Cara-Cara, which raises awareness in the communities concerning the environment.  Since she has sung from a tender age with her singer/guitarist father, all of these different productions are quick to utilize her singing gifts.    

It’s around 1998 that Flávia meets her future husband, a Canadian volunteer from Québec who works for the Cirque du Monde project, overseen by the Cirque du Soleil.  She gives circus workshops for the youths in the project, becoming a clown and stilt walker herself.  After a lot of circus adventures in Brazil, the couple decides to travel in 2001 and ended up establishing themselves in Québec City.

Very quickly, this luminous and versatile artist makes herself known in the cultural landscape of Québec.  Flávia criss-crosses the city's neighbourhood and street parties, its popular events, its festivals as well as an array of benefits.  She becomes the leader of the musical bands Pé na Rua and Forrossanova, two groups of Brazilian flavor popular in Québec.  All the while, she continued her colorful career as a clown comedian.  In short, whenever people want to get the party started, they called on Flávia!  The television variety show Belle et Bum even invited her to take part when they toured to Québec City at the Theatre Impérial in 2007.  

At the head of the two bands, Flávia several times in a row sold out all the seats at the Theatre du Petit Champlain, as well as the Cercle.  After investing time and energy polishing her art and graduating the Ampli de Québec, in the beginning of 2014 she decided to concentrate solely on her singing.  She takes advantage of a family trip to Brazil and of a grant received to record her first solo CD.  We all know the affection that Canada and Québec have for Brazilian music, so Flávia uses this album as a calling card in what’s starting to be a great national breakthrough !  

It’s during the same trip that she meets the man who will record and produce her first CD, Brazilian musician Betinho Muniz, with over 30 years in the business.  An immediate connection happens between the two artists.  No more is necessary for Flávia to invite Muniz to come to Québec for a month in the fall of 2014, to continue working together.  Moving with her family to Sherbrooke, her second adoptive city, Flávia launches herself in the production of her first big solo show. She appears at Sherbrooke’s magnificent Granada theatre, along with her four accompanying musicians that she affectionately dubs her Smallest Big Band.  The show is a success, and Flávia carries on with shows at the Auberge Petite-Nation all the way finally to Toronto’s Uma Nota Brazilian Festival.  

Flávia and her band’s musical performances are many in the summer of 2015: concerts at Québec City’s Palais Montcalm and Festival d’été de Québec, numerous appearances at the Festival des traditions du monde of Sherbrooke, Festival Luminato of Toronto and, in November 2015, Mundial Montréal, where she received the Stingray Rising Stars Award for a remarkable performance at the festival. She was at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival in 2016. Flávia now appears at  festivals all over the world!

ITAMAR EREZ

To capture the essence of Itamar Erez's music is to be taken on a journey where different cultures meet in harmony. His music holds a depth and sensitivity that touches listeners deeply. It blends the delicateness of Middle Eastern music, the freedom found in jazz and the passion of flamenco, creating a unique sound all his own. He is the recipient of the 2014 ACUM Prize for Special Achievement in Jazz and the prestigious 2014 Landau Prize, Itamar is an internationally renowned composer and guitarist who has shared the stage with such musicians as Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Tomatito, Avishai Cohen, Jean-Louis Matinier, Zohar Fresco, and others.

Itamar has released two CDs with his quartet The Adama Ensemble, Desert Song (2006) and Hommage (2010). His most recent release, New Dawn (2013), is a duet collaboration with Yshai Afterman (percussion), with special guest Antonio Serrano (harmonica). Itamar performs internationally and gives workshops and masterclasses, teaching his unique approach to music and guitar playing. During 2014 and 2015, Itamar performed in Canada, USA, Germany, Holland, Austria, Cyprus, Israel, India, Tunisia and Colombia. He is currently on the guitar faculty at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music,  working on new material for his next CD.

Itamar Erez will be joined on stage by an great group of musicians: François Houle (clarinet); Andre Lechance (bass) and Liam MacDonald (percussion). They will perform in the first set, and then support Flávia Nascimento in the second. It promises to be a magical evening! 

Please note that the admission price for this concert includes a $2 Venue Improvement Fee that we are required by the St. James Square to collect from every patron. Starting in September 2016, the proceeds from this temporary fee will be used for construction projects such as ventilation, flooring and washrooms that will make the hall a nicer place for you to visit in the future. If you wish, you can make a secure donation by clicking on the big blue button at the bottom of the page at www.sjcommunitysquare.org. For information on donating by phone or post, please contact the St. James Square office at 604-739-9373.