Opera Carolina and The Mint Museum bring Greater Charlotte’s Latinx artistic community together to celebrate Latin culture and the exhibition Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds.

The family-friendly event honors Charlotte’s diverse cultures through an eclectic blend of visual art, spoken word, classical, and popular music from Latin America. Experience original poetry, local artists and musicians, including performances by members of the Opera Carolina residency company.

Free, cash bar. Performances begin at 6:30 PM. Wednesday Night Live is presented by Bank of America.

Poets/Musicians

Flutepraise Duet (Flute and Vocalist) 

Flutepraise is comprised of Tommy Lopez, a professional flutist who performs Smooth Jazz, R&B, Latin, Latin Jazz, Latin Classics, and standards. He is a self-taught flutist who started at the age of 10 sharing one flute with five other fifth-graders in an elementary school in Harlem, New York.  He later learned how to read and compose at the High School of Music and Art in New York, where he met his now wife of 47 years. He is a native New Yorker but has made his life in Charlotte for the past 33 years.  Flutepraise also includes his wonderful wife Nancy Lopez, an accomplished vocalist who has been singing since she was a child.

 

 

 

Nuestro Tiempo Latin Youth Jazz Ensemble

Nuestro Tiempo Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble is a Latin Jazz orchestra in which students learn fundamentals, including clave rhythms, improvisational theory, and Latin Jazz history. This is a unique opportunity for student musicians, grades 7-12, to study an exciting facet of jazz that combines the chords and improvisational techniques of traditional jazz with Latin instruments and rhythms.

 

 

 

Aris Quiroga (Guitarist) 

As his fingers glide with fluid precision and masterful accuracy, Colombian classical guitarist extraordinaire Aris Quiroga Nieto ensnares his listeners in a wonderful world chock full of melody and infectious vibes. Hailing from Bogota, Colombia, Quiroga has spent his life learning, teaching, composing, and performing guitar, completely immersing himself into a world steeped in rich musical tradition and theory. With performances around the globe, and national presence in Spain and Colombia, he has slowly become one of the elite performers within the classical guitar circuit.

 

Javier Sánchez (Bandoneón Player)

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Javier Sánchez has been playing the bandoneón for over 30 years.  Between 2005 and 2016, he was a member of Latin Grammy Award nominee Rodolfo Mederos Orquesta Típica. Sánchez has toured the globe with well-known tango orchestras and tango companies, such as Tango Pasión, Tanguera, Tango Emotion (returning to Japan for five consecutive years), and many others.

As an active musician in Argentina, Sánchez played in the most prestigious tango shows of Buenos Aires including El Viejo Almacén, Esquina de Carlos Gardel, Café Tortoni, Piazzolla Tango Theater, just to name a few. In 2016, he relocated to the New York metropolitan area and started collaborating with a variety of tango groups, among most noted are Aces of Rhythm directed by Pablo Aslan (debuted at Lincoln Center in July of 2017), Pan American Symphony Orchestra directed by Sergio Bušlje (Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.), and the Astoria Tango  Orchestra led by Daniel Binelli (11-piece orchestra típica). In August of the same year, he won the First Prize at the renowned Che Bandoneon International Competition judged by bandoneón legend Victor Lavallén. In 2018 Mr. Sanchez became Musical Director of Che Tangazo orchestra based in Montreal, Canada, making its debut in July at Tango BA Festival and World Cup. In 2021, he relocated to Charlotte and began performing solo recitals at numerous venues in Carolinas region.  He recorded a one hour concert from Bach to Piazzolla, which streamed live via TwitCasting (available now in its archives). 

 

Patrice N. Wilson (Spoken Word/Poet) 

Patrice N. Wilson is an educator, language enthusiast, spoken word artist and creative, from Charlotte. Wilson received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the UNC Charlotte. Through her educational and creative pursuits, Wilson champions diversity, intersectionality, equity, communal connection, and understanding. Wilson believes that education and action, if used correctly, can be vehicles for sustainable growth and change within society. Wilson loves to write and create, and believes the power of creativity is underrated and can foster community, growth, and understanding.

Visual Artists

Julio Gonzalez (Visual Artist) 

Julio Gonzalez is a self-taught multimedia artist and a native of Atlanta, Georgia. One of Gonzalez’s defining characteristics as an artist is his use of Mexican and Mayan design elements to explore questions of contemporary life and values. Gonzalez cites the simple question “What if?” as a cornerstone of his creativity and practice, a way to approach his ideas from different sides and explore them to the fullest. He hopes viewers of his work will find themselves asking the same question and rediscovering their sense of interconnectedness, curiosity, and childlike wonder. The simple phrase “What if?” is the concept behind the name Wonder What If, a project of which Julio is the Creative Director.

 

Elisa Lopez Trejo (Visual Artist)

Elisa Lopez Trejo is a mixed-media artist and recycling designer from Mexico City. She moved to Charlotte in 2010. Since then she has participated in art events in galleries with other artists, including live painting at the Mint Museum and the OBRA Collective Gallery at VAPA with Latino artists events. Her art was exhibited at the Galleria Magnolia Emporium for three years, and she has participated at the “Charlotte Fashion Week” for six years. Her paintings use different mediums, including oil and acrylic paint, collage, gold leaf and silver leaf. Her style is sometimes abstract and other times figurative, varying with feeling.