Reencuentros Cecilia Duarte

• 1 Fina estampa 02:30
• 2 Incertidumbre 02:54
• 3 Peleas 03:19
• 4 Zamba para olvidar 03:55
• 5 La flor de la canela 03:29
• 6 La revancha 03:51
• 7 Alfonsina y el mar 05:32
• 8 Sabrá Dios 03:25
• 9 Poquita fe 02:56
• 10 La dije a una rosa 03:08
• 11 Sabrás que te quiero 03:25
• 12 GracIas a la vida 05:15
• Total Runtime 43:39

Info for Reencuentros

Reference Recordings is proud to announce Cecilia Duarte’s first solo album, Reencuentros (pronounced re­-en-­kwen­-tros), produced by multiple­-time Producer of the Year GRAMMY® winner, Blanton Alspaugh. Cecilia is best known as a classical and opera singer. This album is a departure, containing 12 romantic boleros from multiple countries. Sung in Spanish, these Latin popular standards are truly art songs from the mid­-20th century. Cecilia is accompanied by Trio Chapultepec: Vincent A. Pequeño, Israel Alcala, and William Carlton Galvez, joined by Jesús Pacheco on percussion. Reencuentros was recorded in December of 2020 at Wire Road Studios, by engineer Andrew Bradley.

A soloist in the GRAMMY® winning album Duruflé: The Complete Choral Works, Cecilia has been praised by The New York Times as “A creamy voiced mezzo-­soprano.” Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Cecilia is a versatile singer that has performed around the world singing a variety of music styles, with a focus on early and contemporary music. Cecilia has been greatly recognized for creating the role of Renata in the first Mariachi Opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna with the famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera in 2010. Cecilia has taken this opera to many stages around the world. She is reprising the role of Renata with Houston Grand Opera this December in the opera El Milagro del Recuerdo, along with musicians who also perform on Reencuentros.

Cecilia Duarte writes this about the origin of Reencuentros: “This album is a reencounter with my past, a remembrance of the moments when I listened to my mother sing many of the songs compiled here, and a reflection of who I am as an artist today… Reencuentros represents where I come from and the stories that formed me. It is important for me to share this legacy of beautiful music, only a small token of the artistic richness of Latin American music.”

Cecilia Duarte, mezzo-soprano
Vincent A Pequeno, requinto, guitar, guitarron, voice
Israel Alcala, guitar, vihuela, requinto, voice
William Carlton Galvez, , guitarron, voice
Jesus Pacheco, percussion
Jonathan Godfrey, violin
Marcos Varela, double bass

Cecilia Duarte
A soloist in the Grammy Winner album Duruflé: The Complete Choral Works, Cecilia has been praised by The New York Times as "A creamy voiced mezzo-soprano." ​

Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Cecilia is a versatile singer that has performed around the world singing a variety of music styles, especially early and contemporary music. ​

Cecilia has been greatly recognized for creating the role of Renata in the first Mariachi Opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna with the famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera in 2010. Cecilia has taken this opera to stages such as the Houston Grand Opera (2013, 2018); Châtelet Theatre in Paris, France; Chicago Lyric Opera, San Diego Opera, Arizona Opera, The Fort Worth Opera, Teatro Nacional Sucre, in Quito, Ecuador, New York City Opera, and El Paso Opera. Since then, Cecilia has created other roles for world premieres of chamber operas and new works, such as Jessie Lydell in A Coffin in Egypt, (HGO and the Wallis Annenberg Center in L.A.); Gracie in A Way Home (HGO and Opera Southwest); Harriet/First Responder in After the Storm (HGO); Alicia in Some Light Emerges (HGO); and Alma in "Boundless," the first episode of Houston Grand Opera’s web opera series Star-cross’d, which received a Telly Award. ​

Operatic roles include Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Loma Williams in Cold Sassy Tree, Isabella in Rapaccini’s Daughter, Sarelda in The Inspector, Tituba in The Crucible, and Maria in Maria de Buenos Aires, among others. Cecilia also premiered the prequel to Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, reprising the role of Renata in the world premiere of El Milagro del Recuerdo, with Houston Grand Opera (2019) and Arizona Opera (2021). ​

Her experience in early music include performances with Ars Lyrica Houston, Mercury Houston, and The Bach Society Houston, as well as the Fesitvalensemble in Stuttgart, Germany, the Festival de Música Barroca de San Miguel de Allende, México, and most recently, the Boston Early Music Festival and the Bach Collegium San Diego with whom she debuted singing Handel's Messiah in a complete adaptation to Spanish. She is a vocalist in the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, performing early and contemporary music. ​

Recordings include Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, with Albany Records, NY; soloist in the Grammy winner album Duruflé: The Complete Choral Works with Signum Records, a special appearance in Encantamiento, an album with music by Daniel Catán, and her upcoming and first solo album of Latin American songs, Reencuentros, produced by multiple time Grammy winner, Blanton Alspaugh, under Reference Recordings Label.

Booklet for Reencuentros