Forty members of the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra landed in Brazil late last week and, on Valentine’s Day, performed the first of two concerts at the Gramado in Concert International Music Festival in Gramado, a European-style tourist town in mountains of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil.
The orchestra, under the baton of Music Director Linus Lerner, is teaming up with members of the Symphony Orchestra of Rio Grande do Norte and other Brazilian musicians. They perform the second concert on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
Lerner, a native of Brazil, also is music director for the Rio Grande do Norte ensemble.
SASO’s programs include Morton Gould’s “American Salute” and Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World.”
Lerner also is artistic director and founder of the festival, which was launched in early 2015.
Brazil is the latest international stop for the volunteer Tucson ensemble. Lerner has taken them to China twice Oaxaca, Mexico, three times, to perform in an opera festival.