GS3: The People United/El Pueblo Unido

GS3: The People United/El Pueblo Unido 

Thursday, March 7, 2024 at 7:30 PM, Muriel Richardson Auditorium, Winnipeg Art Gallery 

Papa Mambo Trio & Corey Hamm, piano 

Join us for two concerts showcasing the phenomenal Vancouver pianist Corey Hamm:

On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, Hamm performs a midday recital at the University of Manitoba’s Vocal Arts Room, Desautels Faculty of Music. The concert features newly commissioned compositions written expressly for Hamm during the pandemic: Works by luminary composers Michael Finnissy (UK) and John Psathas (New Zealand), works by internationally renowned Canadian composers Alice Pingyee Ho and Dorothy Chang, and the premiere performance of a new work by Canadian composer Carly Splett, winner of GroundSwell’s national Emerging Composers Competition. 

On Thursday, March 7, 2024, explore the legendary protest song El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido (The People United Will Never Be Defeated) by Chilean composer, pianist, poet, teacher and politician Sergio Ortega. This concert opens with a set of classic revolutionary songs performed by Winnipeg’s beloved Papa Mambo Trio. Formed in 1989 by Chilean-born classical guitarist Rodrigo Muñoz, Papa Mambo has grown to become one of the most electrifying and innovative forces in Canada’s Latin music scene. The trio has carefully crafted a set of definitive rebellion songs, concluding with El Pueblo Unido.

Without missing a beat, Vancouver pianist Corey Hamm then leads us through a virtuosic set of variations on El Pueblo Unido—Frederic Rzewski’s epic The People United Will Never Be Defeated! Presented in the form of a theme plus 36 variations, Rzewski’s monumental piano solo is widely considered one of the great piano works of the past 50 years. The work has been recorded by the likes of Ursula Oppens, Stephen Drury, Marc-André Hamelin, and Rzewski himself. Of Hamm’s recording, which won Spotify’s Best Classical Recording 2014, Rzewski exclaimed, “Excellent! Bravo! This may be the best recording.” Hamm has performed the work nearly 100 times to audiences worldwide, but this Winnipeg concert marks the first time Hamm has performed Rzewski’s epic work alongside a performance of the original protest song on which it is based, Sergio Ortega’s El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido. Don’t miss this historic event!