The guitar and violin duo Fire & Grace will perform with world renowned flamenco dancer Fanny Ara in a performance at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17. 

 

This is the sixth presentation in the 2022-2023 Friends of Good Music performance season. 

 

Fire & Grace, an eclectic collaboration between guitarist William Coulter and violinist Edwin Huizinga, returns to the Quick Center following their well-received campus visit 2018, this time with a new program featuring flamenco dancer Ara.

 

Coulter and Huizinga are committed to exploring the underlying dance elements of baroque and folk traditions. This cross-cultural program floats freely from traditional works of the Iberian Peninsula to 17th century Germany, pairing dances and gigues from Bach with traditional Basque and Galician folk tunes, as well as works from Pintos and de Falla. 

 

The highlight of the evening will be “Suite Espaňol,” which presents the six movements of the first cello suite by Johann Sebastian Bach, each movement interspersed with a melody from Spain in the duo’s own arrangement. The program is rounded out with works by Isaac Albeniz, Astor Piazolla and Antonio Vivaldi.

 

Guest performer Ara has earned the role of one of the most important performers in Spain and is recognized and celebrated by flamenco enthusiasts around the world. Now living in the San Francisco Bay Area, she is a company member of Caminos Flamencos and a principal dancer for the New York-based flamenco company Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana.

 

Ara has been a regularly featured artist in flamenco festivals across the United States, an invited artist in international festivals including the Australia Festival de Guitarra, and has toured extensively in Canada, Central and South America, the Middle East, Africa, and throughout Europe. Some of her most notable performances include work with the Eva Longoria Foundation.

 

Single tickets for this performance are $20 at full price, $16 for senior citizens and St. Bonaventure employees, and $5 for students. For tickets and information, call The Quick Center at (716) 375-2494.

 

For each Friends of Good Music performance, The Quick Center opens its galleries one hour before the performance and keeps them open throughout the intermission. Regular gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 

 

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.