Concert to Benefit Portuguese Center at UMass Lowell

10/03/2014

Contacts for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-934-2209 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu

LOWELL – In what promises to be an entertaining night of international music, “Fado: Sounds of Portugal” will bring award-winning performer Duarte Coxo to UMass Lowell for a concert to benefit the university’s Saab-Pedroso Center for Portuguese Culture and Research.

A type of Portuguese folk music that emerged in the 19th century, fado is characterized by haunting melodies and lyrics that evoke everyday life in working-class neighborhoods, as well as love, longing and tales of the sea. The UMass Lowell concert will be the opening date of Coxo’s first U.S. tour in support of his latest CD, to be released later this year. Joining him on stage will be singer Ângela Brito and Bruno Chaveiro, Coxo’s frequent collaborator and master of the Portuguese guitar.  

The show will be held in Fisher Recital Hall in Durgin Hall on Friday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. The venue is located at 35 Wilder St. on UMass Lowell’s South Campus and convenient parking is located in the Wilder Lot at the intersection of Wilder and Broadway streets. A pre-concert reception at 5:30 p.m. will allow attendees to meet the performers. Tickets, which are $30 per person for the concert only or $100 per person for the reception and the show, are available at http://alumni.uml.edu/fado. Concert tickets will also be available at the door the night of the performance.

Event proceeds will support programs available to UMass Lowell students and the public through the Saab-Pedroso Center for Portuguese Culture and Research, which promotes the study of the language, literature and cultures of the Portuguese-speaking world, comprised of 230 million people in eight countries on four continents. Launched last year, the center is named in honor of Mark and Elisia Saab of Lowell, and Luis Pedroso of Hampton, N.H., whose generosity helped establish the initiative. Mark Saab is a 1981 graduate of UMass Lowell.

Directed by Frank Sousa, professor of Portuguese in UMass Lowell’s Department of Cultural Studies, the center organizes events and programs for the campus and public, conducts research related to the history and experience of Portuguese-speaking people and advocates for the economic and civic advancement of Portuguese-American communities, especially those in the Merrimack Valley and throughout Massachusetts. This center is part of UMass Lowell’s College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

Sousa, a native of the Azores, was named to lead the Saab-Pedroso Center earlier this year and is working to establish new academic coursework and public outreach initiatives to promote the Portuguese experience.

“I thought it was time for me to start something new, a new adventure. It’s a wonderful opportunity to build something from the ground up at UMass Lowell,” he said. It’s a pleasure to bring these programs and cultural opportunities to students and the Greater Lowell community.”

This fall is the first time UMass Lowell students are able to take Portuguese language classes, which are available through the center’s partnership with the Fulbright Commission. A new writer-in-residence program coordinated by the center and the Luso-American Foundation is teaching students about Portuguese-influenced literature.

At a free event for the public and campus on Thursday, Oct. 23, fiction writer Anthony De Sa, who grew up in Toronto’s Portuguese community, will talk about his craft and read from his work. De Sa’s critically acclaimed first book, “Barnacle Love” was a finalist for the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2009 Toronto Book Award. The program will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the O’Leary Library Learning Commons on UMass Lowell’s South Campus, 61 Wilder St. Lowell. The author’s visit is sponsored by the Saab-Pedroso Center as part of the Jack Kerouac Literary Festival.

“Fado: Sounds of Portugal” is presented by the Saab-Pedroso Center and sponsored by the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; the Office of University Advancement; and UMass Lowell’s Center for Arts and Ideas. Members of the public who have questions about the Oct. 10 performance or the Oct. 23 event with De Sa, should contact the Center for Arts and Ideas at artsandideas@uml.edu or 978-934-2957.

UMass Lowell is a national research university located on a high-energy campus in the heart of a global community. The university offers its more than 17,000 students bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, engineering, education, fine arts, health, humanities, liberal arts, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs, vigorous hands-on learning and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be ready for work, for life and for all the world offers. www.uml.edu