FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2014
Heitor Villa-Lobos
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University Latin American Music Center, at the Jacobs School of Music, is pleased to announce the release of an updated website dedicated to the life and music of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.
The March 5 release coincides with the 127th birthday of Villa-Lobos, one of the most influential Latin American composers of the 20th century.
The website aims to provide a broad audience with information about the composer’s life, music, recordings, and past and future performances of his music, as well as with more detailed and in-depth guides to musicological research and scholarship.
The site was originally created in 1995 by Dean Frey, then-director of the Red Deer Public Library in Alberta, Canada.
At the time, the library had launched its own website and used the Villa-Lobos site as a platform for promoting and selling the CD "The Dance of the White Indian" by Brazilian pianist Ricardo Peres, who was currently teaching at Red Deer College. Soon after, the site served as one of the most visited webpages about Villa-Lobos.
"The site succeeded in both goals: the CD was soon sold out, and the Villa-Lobos website quickly became the top Villa-Lobos attraction on the web, along with Museu Villa-Lobos," said Frey.
Over the past 19 years, the website was maintained by Frey with the technical support of Red Deer Public Library's IT department.
"The Latin American Music Center is honored to have been chosen to carry on the mission of the Villa-Lobos site," said Erick Carballo, the center’s interim director. "The upkeep and, more importantly, the expansion of this important resource aligns perfectly with the center's mission to foster the academic study, performance and research of all manifestations of Latin American music."
Heitor Villa-Lobos album Bachianas Brasileiras
"Given the modularity of the system in which the site resides, we look forward to working with other institutions around the world to share its content in other formats and languages," added Carballo.
One of the added features allows visitors from all over the world to propose their own events, which, once approved, will be announced on the website. With this in mind, the Latin American Music Center is committed to providing valuable information regarding current events, recordings and publications about Villa-Lobos.
The center welcomes and encourages comments about the Villa-Lobos site.