Program - Brazilian Ensemble

A Alma do Brazil The View From Madeleine's Couch with Qld Conservatorium Brazilian Ensemble guests For almost a quarter of a century, this exceptional band has been at the vanguard of bossa nova and Brazilian jazz in Australia. Influenced by the rhythms and harmonies of the music that was being made in Brazil in the late 1950s and '60s, the band has since begun composing their own music, informed by three study tours to Brazil where they learned from, and worked and recorded with some of the country's most celebrated musicians. The band has been nominated for three Queensland Music Awards in the jazz and world-music categories, (most recently a finalist in the jazz category for 2020), and receiving the World Music award in 2009.

Rave reviews have been garnered across three critically acclaimed albums, with their most recent record, Bossa Nova Sunset Club, receiving a four-star review from Australia's pre-eminent jazz critic, Eric Meyers in March this year.

Co-founders Anje West (voice and percussion), and Kym Ambrose (vibraphone), along with long-time guitarist Bruce Woodward, bassist Liam Butler and drummer Lachlan Hawkins will present a program that celebrates not only some of the legendary composers of bossa nova, but also those that have had a major influence on the band.

The concert repertoire will include classics from Antonio Carlos Jobim (Garota de Ipanema and Corcovado), Roberto Menescal (Rio) and Joao Donato (Amazonas, A Ra), along with music from Joyce Moreno, Djavan and Da Lata.

The band will be joined for some of the songs by members of the Conservatorium's Brazilian Ensemble