Once again, the Solvay Ensemble Choir offered the traditional Solidarity Concert in memory of Federico Ceballos, now in its 10th Edition. It is a solidarity and participatory concert that brings together dozens of choristers and instrumentalists each year to perform the Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramírez. On this occasion, the event took place on Friday 12th December at the Virgen de las Nieves Church in Tanos. This event, which is sponsored by the Cultural Department of the Torrelavega City Council, was traditionally held at the Church of the Assumption, although it has changed venues in recent years, with the intention of bringing it closer to the different localities in the region. The voluntary collection will this time be donated to the Spanish Association Mutation GEN IQSEC2, an Association focused on specific genetic mutations.
The Misa Criolla is a choral and instrumental work composed in 1964 by Argentine musician Ariel Ramírez, which uses elements of Andean folklore for the various parts of the Catholic mass liturgy. Thus, we hear the Baguala, the Carnavalito, the Chacarera, or the Estilo Pampeano to sing the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, or the Sanctus of the mass. The instruments used are also typical of Argentine folklore: the bombo, the charango, the quena, and the guitar.
As in previous years, this edition featured Pablo Mezzelani, an exceptional Argentine musician and folklorist with a long career and great international prestige, who will take charge of the traditional Andean instruments. Mezzelani also accompanied the Solvay Ensemble choir in the performance of a small repertoire of Christmas Carols by Ariel Ramírez, the author of the Misa Criolla, also inspired by Andean folklore. The Solvay Ensemble choir, conducted by Juan José del Valle, has been organising this concert since 2014, always in mid-December, as an original way to greet Christmas.
The purpose of this memorial is to pay tribute to Professor Federico Ceballos, who passed away prematurely in May 2014. Federico Ceballos Horna was a musician and prominent choralist of Santa María de Solvay, the author of the harmonisation of the Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramírez that this group sang in a historic concert alongside the Calchakis. Fede Ceballos was also a very beloved person in Torrelavega, a music teacher at the Colegio de Los Sagrados Corazones and a very active member of various musical groups in Cantabria.
