
Gabriel Bouche Caro
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This proposal was for a new performance for solo instrument and narrator/singer. It will resemble a stream-of-consciousness/musical theater monologue with the vocalist representing the complexities of the Puerto Rican identity and current situation. The instrument and vocalist will be characters that are at times distinct, at times similar, and at other times completely blended into one another as a human-instrument sonic hybrid. The narrator’s text will be built by exploring Centro’s collections to create a type of libretto which will take from political, artistic, and folk elements of Puerto Rican culture. The performance’s narrative will be constructed by taking highly specific texts from the collection and making them into a dramatic reading that brings forth conflicts within the ‘diasporican’ identity, the duality of being a nationalist living in the colonizer’s land, and the image of an artist who wishes to bring forth the intricacies and beauty of their culture to the world. This is Puerto Rican music, not as folk, but as a synthesis of sound, experience, tradition, difficulties, and successes that come from living life square-rooted in a richly complex and demanding cultural situation.
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Born in Puerto Rico, Gabriel Bouche Caro is based in New York City, where he is a PhD candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center. Gabriel explores his personal and musical identity by responding to language and literature, external artistic expressions, and the elements of other cultures seen through the filter of life as part of a colonized people and society. Identity, authenticity in a non-native environment, and the concept of foreignness are all tints that color the artistic conception and eventual discourse that is communicated in his work. His music has been performed in North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. In December 2022 his hour-long Song Cycle Que tus ojos no se cansen de brillar, was premiered at Americas Society in New York. Gabriel’s music has been featured in the Havana Contemporary Music festival, Banff Evolution:Quartet, soundSCAPE, and New Music on the Point festivals. He has been commissioned by Americas Society, Peabody Institute, Baltimore Classical Guitar Society, Canvasounds Collective, and the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts. His music has been performed by various ensembles and soloists including the JACK Quartet, Treske Quartet, Loadbang, Marina Kifferstein, Gleb Kanasevich, Thomas Giles, Aliana de la Guardia, and Evan Runyon. He is the recipient of the CUNY Graduate Center Provost enhancement Fellowship, the Randolph S. Rothschild Award in Composition (Peabody Institute) and the Augusto Rodriguez Prize for musical achievement (University of Puerto Rico). Gabriel holds an MM in Composition from the Peabody Conservatory and a BA in Music from the University of Puerto Rico.
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