Holland Festival – Vitor Araújo & Metropole Orkest Strings

Virtuoso Brazilian pianist and composer stacks rhythms into mesmerizing polyrhythms at the intersection of symphonic music, traditional Brazilian music, jazz and pop. Together with the Metropole Orkest Strings, Vitor Araújo will play at Holland Festival this June.

Five years ago, former child prodigy Vitor Araújo, now the permanent collaboration partner of associate artist Christiane Jatahy, worked diligently on his magnum opus Levaguiã Terê. This second album emerged from the study of polyrhythms heard during religious rituals of candomblé and umbanda, the historical origin of the composer’s native region, the Brazilian term. These in turn had come to Brazil with numerous slave transports from Africa. But Araújo places them in a more symphonic context: the music from the album is now played live by Araújo and his band, two candomblé percussionists and string players from the Metropole Orkest. Sometimes melancholy swirling, then again measuredly minimal of boisterous tribal, but almost always through the never-ending pulse of percussion, Araújo immerses you in his rhythms that cover a diverse musical spectrum – just like Araújo himself masters. The super talent, who was considered the revelation of Brazilian composed music, has sources of inspiration that range from Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos and jazz and samba heroes such as Chico Buarque and Tom Jobim to composer and pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto and Radiohead.