NHCC Hosts Virtual Screening and Q&A of “Con Alma” – Exploring the Creative Process with Paola Prestini and Magos Herrera

January 29th, 2021

The National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC), in collaboration with Instituto Cervantes de Albuquerque and UNM’s Latin America and Iberian Institute, will host an online screening of the Con Alma project, including the world premiere video of “La Creación de las Aves” (The Creation of the Birds), followed by an open Q&A discussion moderated by Cristina Baccin of KUNM, at 7 p.m. MST on Friday, Feb. 5. 

Con Alma (With Soul) is an album and live digital experience featuring original works by composer Paola Prestini and vocalist/composer Magos Herrera, along with classics from the Mexican and jazz songbook, created and recorded remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The album, which explores the question of how we can find communion in a time of isolation, grew out of the personal and collective experience of this moment of deep division — be it spiritual, ideological, political, or geographical — and seeks to use music to create a shared sense of the experiences that we are all going through together, alone.

“Con Alma is a sonic painting representing a 15-year friendship through a collaborative process of writing, telling the story of shared ambitions and triumphs, love, trials, hope, and losses," Herrera and Prestini wrote in a joint statement about the project. “The artists we worked with form our international musical family, and it’s a joy to be able to connect through this album, leaving an artifact of this time, and our response to the pandemic: alone, but together.”

During a career that has spanned two decades, Prestini has collaborated with poets, filmmakers, and scientists in large-scale multimedia works that chart her interest in extra-musical themes. Her compositions have been commissioned and performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Barbican Centre, Cannes Film Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Kennedy Center, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Opera.

Born in Mexico City and currently based out of New York, Herrera is a jazz singer/songwriter, producer, and educator. Declared as "one of the greatest contemporary interpreters of song" by the Latin Jazz Network, she is regarded as one of the most active vocalists in the contemporary Latin American jazz scene. As part of the NHCC’s Latin Diva series in 2012, Herrera presented a concert that blended classical jazz styling with Latin melodies.

Donations will be accepted on the AMP Concerts website.

Date: Friday, February 5, 2021
Time: 7 p.m. MST
Event Link: https://www.ampconcerts.org/event/369349/con-alma

About the National Hispanic Cultural Center
The National Hispanic Cultural Center is dedicated to the preservation, promotion and advancement of Hispanic culture, arts and humanities. The Center presents mission related events throughout the year, some produced by its history, literary, performing and visual arts programs, and others by partnering with external organizations. Events take place at its 20-plus-acre campus, which includes a plaza, an art museum, a historic designated building, a library, and genealogy center. The Center is a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and is further supported by the National Hispanic Cultural Center Foundation. 

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