RICARDO GALLARDO
COMPOSER / PERCUSSION
Tambuco
Percussion Ensemble
With 28 years of international concerts and the recording of an original repertoire, Tambuco Percussion Ensemble has celebrated an acclaimed career, establishing itself among the finest percussion quartets today. Audiences throughout the world have enjoyed the musicianship of Tambuco in programs devoted exclusively to show a vast universe of percussion music.
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Four time GRAMMY Nominees including Best Classical Album and Best Chamber Ensemble, Tambuco, was founded in 1993 by four distinguished musicians and is ranked among the finest and most innovative in the world. These four musicians refuse to be tied down to one style, with a repertoire ranging from structuralist percussion music to a wide range of ethnic drum music and avante garde sound interpretation. The one constant is their desire for perfection and unique, virtuoso performance.
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The musicians of "Tambuco" use all conceivable and inconceivable means to realize their musical ideas. Tambuco has been awarded with many distinctions and prizes from cultural organizations in Mexico and abroad. Recently, Tambuco was awarded the prestigious Japan Foundation Award for the Arts and Culture: the most important distinction Japan gives to an artist. Tambuco has offered concerts in five continents. They have performed in the USA (Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Walt DIsney Hall), Tokyo (Ino Hall, Toppan Hall, Tsuda Hall), London (Barbican Centre), Paris and Montpellier (Festival de Radio France), Germany (Berliner Festspiele), Australia (Quennsland and Canberra Music Festivals) plus concerts in Canada, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Colombia, Brasil, Uruguay, Argentina, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, as well as practically all of Mexico's concert halls.
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One of Tambuco's most important activities is collaboration. As solo ensemble, Tambuco has performed and recorded with musicians, ensembles and orchestras such as Keiko Abe, Stewat Copeland, Eduardo Mata, Valerie Naranjo, Nanae Yoshimura, Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kronos Quartet, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Michael Nyman Band, Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier, Sao Paulo State Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México, Orquesta Sinfónica de Guanajuato, La Camerata, Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, Orchestra de Catania and Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, amongst many, many others.
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To date, Tambuco has recorded ten CDs. Its most recent album: Carlos Chavez Complete Chamber Music, received three GRAMMY nominations: Best Classical Album, Best Small Chamber Ensemble and Best Classical Latin Album. It's Album "Rítmicas", was selected by Audiophile Audition as one of the best CDs of the year. Tambuco recorded also with Kronos Quartet on their Grammy nominated album “Nuevo”. Tambuco performed and recorded the music for the most recent James Bond’s film Spectre.