“Coqueteos” from Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout
Gabriela Lena Frank
About the Composer
Born in Berkeley, California in 1972, composer and pianist Gabriela Lena Frank explores music as a vehicle to express her identity. Her multicultural heritage comprises her mother’s Peruvian and Chinese ancestry and her father’s Lithuanian and Jewish ancestry. In her compositions Frank incorporates South American mythology, art, poetry, and folk music into traditionally classical forms. Like Bartók did in Central Europe, Frank has traveled extensively throughout South America to creatively explore folk traditions. Frank’s music most notably is programmatically evocative. She states, “there’s usually a story line behind my music, a scenario or character.” The titles of her works and her accompanying notes for them clearly frame her intentions for her listeners.
In 2020 Frank was a recipient of the prestigious 25th anniversary Heinz Award in the Arts and Humanity category, which recognized her for breaking gender, disability, and cultural barriers in the classical music industry, and for her work as an activist on behalf of emerging composers of all demographics. She is also the recipient of a Latin Grammy, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a USA Artist Fellowship. She holds degrees from Rice University and the University of Michigan, and her composition teachers include William Albright, Leslie Bassett, William Bolcom, and Michael Daugherty. In 2017, Frank was recognized by the Washington Post as one of the 35 most significant women in the history of composition.
About the Music
“Coqueteos” is a movement excerpted from Frank’s Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout, which she originally wrote for string quartet in 2001 and arranged for string orchestra two years later. In the work Frank incorporates elements of Andean folk music traditions into the western classical tradition to create a profound tapestry. Frank says she drew her inspiration from “the ides of mestizajeas envisioned by the Peruvian writer Jose María Arguedas, wherein cultures co-exist without the subjugation of one by the other.” According to Frank, “‘Coqueteos’ is a flirtatious love song sung by men known as romanceros and is direct in its harmonic expression, bold and festive. The romanceros sang in harmony with one another against a backdrop of guitars, which I think of as a vendaval de guitarras (storm of guitars).”
Note by Christina Dioguardi