The concert was held to celebrate the release of Perez’s new album, Chopin: the Complete Preludes, on Telarc International.

Washington Post reviewer Stephen Brookes writes that “Perez dove into the Preludes as if discovering them for the first time, flinging them out into the hall with a kind of wild intensity that was often breathtaking, as if she were forcing these delicate hothouse flowers into the fresh air for the first time. “

He writes that Perez offered an assertive take on the music and “throughout the evening displayed an impressive range of ideas and originality.”

Of her own bold style, Perez has said: “The way I play this music may not be stereotypically ‘beautiful’ – it may be more raw than some. I didn’t want pretty. I wanted honest.”

Brookes writes that the concert “underscored Perez’s growing reputation as a gifted pianist well worth keeping an eye on.”

Perez has already become internationally known and has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Blue Note and alongside artists such as cellist Jan Vogler, violinist Joshua Bell, and Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

Last Thursday’s performance was part of the annual concert series Venezuelan Sounds, supported by Chevron and organized by the Embassy since 2004 to share Venezuelan culture and traditions in the U.S.

To read the full review, click here.

Press Office – Embassy of Venezuela to the U.S. / May 23, 2012

The resolution was approved in a plenary session at which the President of the National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena, spoke about the role of the Latino vote in the U.S. and the importance of active citizen participation in the processes of societal transformation.

“We were invited by the Latino Congreso, an organization we have worked with very closely and that has participated in previous electoral processes in Venezuela,” Lucena said during her presentation. She was pleased by the fact that members of the Congreso are interested in the advances of the Venezuelan electoral system with respect to participation and inclusion.

“Since nearly 2003, our staff at the CNE has been working tirelessly to ensure that the people’s will be transparent, secure, reliable, and facilitate the process of the country’s electoral system,” Lucena said.

Before a coalition of organizations, leaders, Latino activists and media outlets, the president of the CNE highlighted the progress of Venezuela’s electoral system and and the interest of the CNE in inviting more international electoral accompaniers for the coming elections.

“The eyes of the world are on Venezuela in each election, hence, we want to invite important personalities so we can show them the Venezuelan electoral system,” she said.

Among those participating in the plenary session were Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), an organization aimed at promoting Latino voter participation in the U.S.

“It was very important for the delegates of the Latino Congreso to have the opportunity to hear some comments by President Tibisay Lucena, since information about Venezuela does not go in depth here in the U.S.,” Gonzalez said after the plenary session. During his presentation, the Latino leader highlighted Venezuela’s “great achievement” for having a National Electoral Council with “such a deep and participative” electoral system.

The National Latino Congreso has been held since 2006 and was founded to create an “open space” for analyzing and designing strategies for public policy and the political agenda of communities of Latino origin in the U.S., including domestic and international perspectives.

U.S Civil Rights Organization to Visit Venezuela

Lucena’s agenda in Chicago included a meeting with Reverend Jesse Jackson, a prominent civil rights activist and founder of the Rainbow Push Coalition. During the meeting, Lucena invited reverend Jackson to visit Venezuela to learn about how the country’s electoral system works and participate as an electoral accompanier in the coming elections.

“I expected, as part of my visit, to meet with Reverend Jesse Jackson to invite him to Venezuela after and during this year’s elections so he can see our electoral process,” Lucena said.

“I’m impressed with the idea that Venezuela continues in the path to increase an open, free and transparent democracy, inviting international observers to watch the process,” said Reverend Jackson. “We accept this invitation to meet with officials of the government, opposition, religious leaders and several actors in the society to ensure the world that the electoral process is open, free, fair, transparent and be recognized by the world,” said Reverend Jackson after the meeting.

Lucena and Jackson discussed relations between the U.S. and Venezuela and the need for both countries to restore and deepen diplomatic ties.

“Relations between the U.S. and Venezuela should be restored. We are neighbors, we share the same hemisphere and same resources. We should revive those ties because the union of the U.S. with Venezuela can make them a great force for the wellbeing of humanity. There are many challenges in the whole hemisphere, like violence, drugs, poverty, and we should work jointly for the wellbeing of the peoples,” Reverend Jackson said.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, an independent branch of government, has continued to contact international organizations and personalities to participate as electoral accompaniers during the country’s presidential elections on October 7.

Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May, 19, 2012

Reif has been the university’s provost since 2005, and also headed its department of electrical engineering and computer science. He assumes the new post on July 2.

According to Bloomberg, at a press conference yesterday, Reif said: “It is incredibly humbling for me to be standing here as the president-elect of MIT. I cannot tell you that this is a dream come true, because this is a dream I never dared to imagine. My story is not too different from that of many at MIT. I grew up in a home wealthy in integrity and principles and values, but poor in everything material.”

The New York Times reports that Reif, the son of immigrants from Eastern Europe, grew up “speaking Spanish and Yiddish.”

He was born in the city of Maracaibo in western Venezuela and moved to Caracas at age 9. The first in his family to attend university, Reif graduated in 1973 with a degree in engineering from the Universidad de Carabobo in Valencia. He taught as an assistant professor for one year at the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas before going to the U.S. to continue his studies. He received a master’s and PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and joined MIT in 1980.

Reuters writes that as provost of MIT, Reif “helped create and implement a strategy that allowed MIT to weather the global financial crisis, despite a large decline in its endowment, and drove the growth of the university overseas, from Abu Dhabi to Russia.”

Another of his contributions was the creation of the Office of the Associate Provost for Faculty Equity. According to an MIT press release, in 2007, “Reif promoted a major faculty-led effort to address challenges around race and diversity… [he] has since taken steps to foster a culture of inclusion at the Institute.”

Regarding his appointment, Reif said: “I am deeply honored to be elected president of the Institute I love so dearly. MIT’s impact on my life — how I think, how I make sense of the world, and how I align my personal aspirations with the call to service — has been profound.”

 Press Office – Embassy of Venezuela to the U.S. / May 17, 2012

Photo: AP

Chopin: The Complete Preludes

Praised for her bold, passionate performance style and musical keen sensitivity, Pérez has been championed by the most iconic of performers. Conductor Zubin Mehta said of the pianist: “Her level of musical perception and artistic awareness impressed me as much as her total command of the keyboard.”

Legendary pianist Claudio Arrau was was also touched by her playing, and described Pérez as “a pianist whose technique, musicality, and intelligent approach to the music she plays made a profound impression on me.”

Pérez’s influences on Chopin: The Complete Preludes, range from “the poetry and grandeur” of Arrau Philips’ recordings – “the way he would sing the melodies on the piano,” she says – to “the energy and intensity” of another hero, Martha Argerich, who was “always a huge inspiration.”

Yet Pérez has made the music of the 24 Preludes – as well as the Fantasie in F minor Op. 49, Barcarolle Op. 60 and two Preludes from Op. 25 – very much her own on the album.

“The way I play this music may not be stereotypically `beautiful’ – it may be more raw than some,” she says. “But I wanted the music to sound organic and real, above all. I didn’t want pretty. I wanted honest.”

The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United States is hosting a CD release concert for the new record on Thursday, May 17, at 7 pm in the Bolivarian Hall, the cultural space of the diplomatic mission.

This concert is part of Venezuelan Sounds,  a concert series held annually since 2004 to share Venezuelan culture and traditions in the U.S. with sponsorship from the Chevron Corporation.

About Pérez

Pérez is internationally known, and has performed at prestigious venues across the United States, Latin America and Europe alongside stars such as Dudamel and Montero (a close friend since childhood), as well as top musicians like pianist Ingrid Fliter, cellist Jan Vogler, violinist Colin Jacobsen and conductors John Axelrod, Enrique Batiz, David Gimenez Carreras, Karel Mark Chichon and Diego Matheuz.

In a review of Pérez’s performance of Mozart’s D Minor Concerto in Germany, the Dortmunder Zeitung called her “a virtuosa wild at heart and with a gentle touch,” combining “spontaneous freshness and poetic expression.” Meanwhile, the Miami Herald marveled at her “youthful fire” and “rapt lyricism.”

Chopin is some of the music “closest to my heart,” Pérez says. “I listened to my mother play Chopin on the piano when I was a child. And my grandmother, who lived in Argentina for years, would always tell me about how she used to listen to a neighbor play Chopin’s 24 Preludes all day next door. Her favorite was the last one, in D minor, which is one of my favorites, too. Each of the 24 Preludes may be brief, but they are powerful – each one a whole world of feeling, highly condensed. The way Chopin speaks through the piano is very intimate, very passionate.”

The recording sessions at Patrych Sound Studios in the Bronx “felt like a live concert at times, with friends there in the studio,” Pérez recalls. “But then I don’t have a separate `concert mode’ and `studio mode.’ Even in the recording studio, I’m performing, period.”

Pérez has had other high-profile experiences in the studio. She recorded Astor Piazzolla’s “Oblivion” for superstar violinist Joshua Bell’s At Home with Friends album, released by Sony Classical in 2009. She also teamed up with Jan Vogler for a duet of Piazzolla’s “Le Grand Tango” and other pieces for the cellist’s 2008 Sony Classical album, Tango.

Born in Miami, Pérez was raised in Venezuela, where she began her studies with Luminita Duca. In the U.S., she studied with noted Claudio Arrau pupils Ena Bronstein and Rosalina Sackstein; at 17, she won a full scholarship for London’s Royal Academy of Music to study with Christopher Elton. She continued her studies with pianists Lazar Berman and Franco Scala in Italy at the renowned Accademia Pianistica Incontri Col Maestro in Imola. She then completed post-graduate studies with Peter Frankl at Yale University and pianist Daniel Epstein in New York City. Pérez made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2004, but her first performance in New York was at the downtown jazz shrine of the Blue Note, where Latin jazz star Arturo Sandoval had her perform his “Sureña,” a piece laced with Venezuelan folk melodies.

A dual citizen of the U.S. and Venezuela, she currently resides in New Jersey.

 Telarc / Press – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S./ May 16, 2012

Last Saturday, at a ceremony in Caracas, Salazar was appointed conductor of the Regional Youth Orchestra of Nueva Esparta, a state located northeastern Venezuela that is comprised largely of Margarita Island. The decision was made by El Sistema’s founder, José Antonio Abreu, and the news spurred celebrations when it reached Salazar’s home state yesterday.

“Maestro Abreu was impressed by Salazar’s talent and indicated that he should receive individual instruction and practice alongside Gustavo Dudamel. This achievement demonstrates that the symphony orchestra program is one more attractive alternative for Venezuelan youth,” said Marisela Usuriaga, the regional manager of the Symphony Orchestra of Nueva Esparta.

Salazar was born in Porlamar, Margarita Island, on September 16, 1997, and began studying music at age eight. He then joined the Youth Orchestra of Nueva Esparta, where he continued to study violin and music theory under maestro Luis Villarroel, quickly earning the post of concertino.

In 2011, after an audition, he joined the Symphony Orchestra of Nueva Esparta as first violin. He then became part of the chamber music quartet Allegretto and the Venezuelan Musical Duo D2, with whom he has performed many times.

Venezuela’s El Sistema currently includes 285 local “nucleos” which are attended by a total of 350,000 children and adolescents to form the national network of youth orchestras and choirs.

El Sistema, founded in 1975, has received special support from the government of President Hugo Chávez. In November of 2011, the Venezuelan government announced a grant of $38 million to finance the program, which primarily benefits young people from low-income families.

AVN / Press – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 15, 2012

The Venezuelan driver, who is sponsored by the state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and represents the team Williams F1, beat the Spanish favorite Fernando Alonso of team Ferrari as well as Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus.

Maldonado, who is 27 and hails from the city of Maracay, won the 66-lap race with a time of 1:39:09. It was an extraordinary victory in a race charged with emotion.

Social Networks Congratulatory Messages Pour In Online

On Saturday night, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez wrote a message on his twitter account, @ChavezCandanga, in which he congratulated Maldonado for earning “pole position” in the race. After the victory, he wrote: “I told you so. A win for our Pastor Maldonado, making history! Bravo Pastor! Congratulations to you and your combative team! We shall overcome!”

Government ministers also sent messages via twitter. Hector Rodriguez, Minister of Sports, was among the first to react to the victory: “Viva @PastorMaldo, champion bringing joy to the Venezuelan people… Up with Venezuela!”

Communications Minister Andres Izarra wrote from his account, @IzarraDeVerdad: “Pastor wins with support from PDVSA!”

The oil company also congratulated the win, tweeting: “Pastor Maldonado wins the GP of Spain. The oil workers are proud of this triumph!”

Many others joined in the congratulatory moment online, including the Venezuelan basketball player Greivis Vazquez, who called the win: “Another example that Venezuela has all kinds of talent.”

Photo: EFE

YVKE Mundial / Press – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 13, 2012

]]> http://venezuela-us.org/2012/05/13/pastor-maldonado-wins-spanish-grand-prix-venezuelas-first-formula-one-victory/feed/ 0 http://venezuela-us.org/2012/05/11/wayuu-filmmaker-speaks-about-indigenous-media-in-venezuela/ http://venezuela-us.org/2012/05/11/wayuu-filmmaker-speaks-about-indigenous-media-in-venezuela/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 15:40:58 +0000 admin http://venezuela-us.org/?p=23743 On Thursday evening, the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the U.S. hosted a lecture by Wayuu activist and filmmaker David Hernández Palmar about the proliferation of media created by and for indigenous peoples in Venezuela. He spoke…]]> On Thursday evening, the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the U.S. hosted a lecture by Wayuu activist and filmmaker David Hernández Palmar about the proliferation of media created by and for indigenous peoples in Venezuela. He spoke at the Bolivarian Hall, the Embassy’s cultural space in Washington, DC.

Hernández Palmar, who is in the U.S. to attend the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, shared his experiences working with indigenous community radio stations and newspapers, projects he said help fulfill the rights of indigenous peoples to freedom of speech, access to information, and communications.

He described the challenges of developing media content from a uniquely indigenous perspective, and said that broadcasting can help revitalize native languages that are threatened.

He emphasized that Venezuela’s Bolivarian government has been providing spaces for indigenous media, offering encouragement in the form of funding for projects, equipment, training, and events.

“I’m privileged that I live in Venezuela because I am able to do the work that I do,” he said.

Hernández Palmar, who lives in the city of Maracaibo, was involved in creating a network of over 200 community film centers throughout Venezuela through the Ministry of Culture’s Fundación Cinemateca Nacional. He is organizing a country-wide indigenous film festival next February, and has directed documentary films such as “Owners of the Water: Conflict and Collaboration Over Rivers,” which premiered at the Smithsonian’s Native American Film and Video Festival in New York in 2009.

Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 11, 2012

Hernández Palmar is visiting the U.S. to share his experiences in creating media with a focus on indigenous communities.

In Venezuela, indigenous groups have been asserting and exercising their collective right to their own forms of communications and information through mass media and technologies like radio, television, internet, film, and newspapers, as a means to strengthen their claims and recognize their rights. The Bolivarian Hall opens its doors to showcase the community initiatives carried out in this area with the support of the Venezuelan government in order to amplify freedom of expression.

About David Hernández Palmar

David Hernández Palmar (Wayuu) is a photographer, filmmaker, community organizer and journalist. He has produced documentaries in Europe for Deutsche Welle and Canal Arte and has collaborated in documentaries on the Wayuu peoples, including “Dalia se va de Jepira” (2006). He has participated in the National Museum of the American Indians’ Native American Film + Video Festival twice, as a co-director of the documentary “Owners of the Water” and as a discussant in the roundtable “Mother Earth in Crisis.”

Hernández-Palmar has also worked on indigenous film programs in Venezuela and abroad. He holds a degree in journalism from the Universidad Rafael Belloso Chacín and a degree in photography from the Escuela Julio Vengoechea. He has been a guest researcher in the Anthropology Department of the University of Iowa, and is a member of the advisory boards of the Ethnographic Digital Laboratory of the University of Central Florida, the International Ethnobotanical Association, and PeruVine/PeruDigital. He currently lives in Maracaibo, where he works as an independent reporter for several publications, including the Wayuu journal “Wayuunaiki.”

What: Lecture on “Indigenous participation in the exercise of the right to communication, information and freedom of speech in Venezuela”
When: Thursday, May 10, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Where: Bolivarian Hall, 2443 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20008
RSVP: cultura@venezuela-us.org

Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 9, 2012  

Women wearing the traditional dresses of the Venezuelan plains region – a skirt with stripes of yellow, blue and red like the national flag and a white off-the-shoulder blouse – greeted the more than 2,000 visitors to the Residence of the Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Washington, DC, on Saturday, May 5th for the annual cultural event known as Passport DC.

All day long, the Bolivarian Hall, the cultural space of the Venezuelan Embassy that is adjacent to the Ambassador’s Residence, was open to the public for music, dancing, and activities for children. The event had an air of fun and entertainment. This is the first year that Venezuela has participated in Passport DC as part of its cultural programming in the U.S. capital.

Guests were given a guided tour of the official residence, where they viewed works of art from Venezuela by famous artists such as Armando Reverón, Manuel Cabré and Héctor Poleo. The public also learned about the country through a photography exhibit featuring the work of the Venezuelan folklore expert Luis Felipe Ramón y Rivera. His work is part of an important collection at Venezuela’s Center for Cultural Diversity in Caracas.

After taking the tour, Venezuelan visitor Karina Sarmiento said: “I really liked learning about the history of this house, and especially for the children, who didn’t know the history of this place. I also loved the traditional dresses from Venezuela.”

Another Venezuelan guest, Alexia Rivera, said: “I was here last year and wanted to come back. As always, the tour was really good.”

Beth Shippler of the U.S. said “I really enjoyed the tour. It was all really nice.”

Nicole Druen of Sweden also offered her impressions: “for me it was marvelous to see where the ambassador ate and held his meetings. I loved the paintings that decorate the place.”

This year during Passport DC, embassies were asked to feature the work of notable women artists to help celebrate the 25^th Anniversary of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Venezuela chose to honor Belén Palacios, an Afro-Venezuelan woman who dedicated her life to preserving the traditional percussive instrument called the Quitiplás. Palacios played the Quitiplás, which are made of bamboo, with the women’s musical group Elegguá. They performed for enthusiastic crowds at important venues abroad such as the Kennedy Center and Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. A short video about the life and legacy of Palacios was shown in the Bolivarian Hall and is now available online.

Visitors to the Residence were also given information about Venezuela’s main tourist attractions and enjoyed a refreshing traditional drink made of sugar cane called papelón con límon. Meanwhile, children picked up paint brushes for an activity called “leave your mark on Venezuela,” in which they were invited to offer their own impressions of the South American country.

Children and adults alike helped decorate the Cruz de Mayo (or May Cross), a wooden cross that is adorned with flowers in thanks for blessings received during the year. Many of the day’s visitors also signed up for a raffle whose winners will be announced shortly on the embassy’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

At 4 p.m., the event closed with a concert by the band Sabana y Talento featuring traditional Venezuelan musical styles like joropos played with instruments including the harp and the four-stringed cuatro. A group of African-influenced dancers and drummers also performed on the patio in front of the residence, banging their tambores in honor of the thousands of people who came out to enjoy a day full of the flavors, rhythms and colors of Venezuela.

Passport DC is a month-long event organized by Cultural Tourism, DC, an independent coalition of over 230 cultural organizations, during which about 70 embassies open their doors in Washington, DC, to showcase the traditions of each country.

Watch the photos:

Watch the video of the event , here aquí

Press Office – Embassy of Venezuela to the U.S. / May 7, 2012

The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the U.S. will open its doors to the community on Saturday, May 5, to showcase Venezuelan culture and traditions as part of Passport DC, an annual event featuring global culture through concerts and other activities held at the diplomatic missions in Washington.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Venezuelan Ambassador’s Residence and the Bolivarian Hall, the adjacent cultural space, will be open to the public. Guests can expect music, dance, refreshments, activities for children, and an atmosphere of fun and entertainment.

On display will be various works of art including paintings by recognized Venezuelan artists that are part of the collection of the official residence. A video will also be shown in the Bolivarian Hall about tourist attractions in the country, and of course, the traditional and very refreshing sugar cane-based drink, papelón con limón, will be served.

Passport DC is an annual event organized by Cultural Tourism, an independent coalition of more than 230 cultural organizations. Seventy embassies are joining the festivities this year, the fifth year of the event. This is the fourth year that Venezuela has participated. Last year, the Bolivarian Hall welcomed over 3,500 people.

Please check our Facebook page or Twitter account for more on Venezuela’s participation in Passport DC.

What: Passport DC

Where: Venezuelan Ambassador’s Residence (2443 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington DC 20008)

When: Saturday, May 5, 2012 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / April 30, 2012