Washington Library hosts Luz Latina Duo

Iowa flute and cello performers Luz Latina Duo played a concert at the Washington Public Library Tuesday afternoon.

“This was offered to us by Outshare at the University … They got in touch with us and said, ‘hey, we’ve got these great performers, and they’re looking for some place to perform,’” Library Director Cary Siegfried said. “I thought it was a wonderful performance. We’re hoping to get our concert series started back up again, so we hope people will start coming to hear music with us again.”

The duo has a policy for their performances: they’re committed to playing music written by Latin American and Hispanic composers.

“It’s playing music that is from our continent and from our traditions and heritage,” cellist Zoraida Oyola-Rebaza said. “That’s important, to keep connected.”

Flutist Laura Canelo Cohen agreed, saying the focus on certain composers established a connection with listeners.

“It is important to create those cultural bridges between traditional European cultural music and Latin American music,” she said. “Many of these composers are classically trained, and they bring a lot of that into their compositions and create that sense of togetherness. We are all together, sharing who we are.”

With a smattering of musical awards, teaching experience, and academic achievements between them, the cello and flute duo said they made playing non-traditional venues like the library a priority.

“We try to reach to people who otherwise would not be able to concerts,” Oyola-Rebaza said. “It’s part of a project that we have started to reach out to communities … we would like it to become a tour, but right now we’re kind of at the early stages.”

Cohen said that push for more accessible venues was largely inspired COVID-19 precautions.

“I was precisely the pandemic situation,” she said. “At the very beginning, everything was very heavy and dark and troublesome. We’re musicians, so we wanted to, with what we do, bring light.”

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