Americas Society / Council of the Americas

I went to this venue to attend a classical guitar concert and it was a very nice venue. Very bright and quaint. The room was beautiful. I would recommend it as an intimate space/​venue for a performance.

Coincidentally, I also visited The Americas Society on July 5^th for the opening concert of the 2011 New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes!
I first saw the place ina Youtube clip of an unrelated pianist. He was playing in a room with a glossy wood floor and brilliant chandeliers. A few rows of people sat in chairs, observing the performance. «Where IS that?!» I asked…
Affiliated with the Council of the Americas, the Society is a world class forum on international relations as they pertain to the dialogue between North and South Americas. Hence, a concert filled with performances by leading classical guitarists performing pieces by Latin American greats!
The website (
) is well organized, but wild with information. From it, I was able to locate a calendar (
), from which I was able to gather that events are FREE to members AND non-​members! The only difference is that members get guaranteed seats for events. And non-​members can’t just walk in. I had to subscribe to the mailing list, which would alert me to open events. The first e-​mail I got was for the NYGS concert, which happened to be something I was maniacally interested in seeing. I followed the links and reserved two spots for me and a guest.
So yesterday, after a tiring flight back from the Midwest and having my mother flake on me because it was too hot to travel from Boston, I dragged myself to the spot via the F (ing dysfunctional train). Had I taken the 6, though, I could have skipped there via the single Upper East avenue block leading straight to the consular looking stone building on the corner of Park Ave. and E.68^th Street.
Seats are first come first served, and non-​members especially have to show up at least 15 minutes prior to an event or risk having their tickets given away. Knowing this, I barged in heaving and sweating. at ten minutes to seven. There was a bottleneck in the foyer; an overwhelmed, brown eyed guy was manning the ticket desk (a fold-​up table) alone. My jig of impatience ended when he handed me a ticket — a neon square of paper shouting «NON-​MEMBER.»
Ascended the red-​carpeted spiral staircase into a room of chairs in semi-​darkness. A stage glowed in bright, golden light, and golden microphones were suspended over a black stage. After struggling my way into one vacant seat somewhere in the middle of it all, I noticed that there was a much smaller capacity seating area in a wing extending off of stage-​left, all full.
Of course, there was a man with a huge, white fro directly in front of me. Also, having hauled ass from the 63^rd street F train stop, I was possibly thirstier than I had ever been in my life. I almost asked the eccentric looking woman beside me for a sip from her grimey canteen, but finally chose to trip over a row of old men’s knees and lovely ladies’ skirts to dash down the plush steps to the bathroom — a single room. I locked the door and drank sink water from my cupped, trembling hands in total privacy.
Back upstairs, there were now people standing on tiptoes against the damask walls. Sonia Hernández took the stage with sultry confidence and treated us to a repertoire which included US premieres of ‘Río Piura’ by José Miguel Correa and ‘Amotape está de Fiesta’ by Mario Orozco Cáceres (who in turn arranged the Correa piece).
Newman and Oltman Guitar Duo then took the stage with the bizarro but admirable ‘Motets’ by Brasilian Arthur Kampela (present in the audience). Later, the serenely handsome João Luiz, soloed an untitled piece (‘Pieza sin título’) by the Cuban Leo Brouwer, then trio’d a world première of his own ‘Todas as Manhas.‘
Beautiful.
Just one problem (in addition to Krusty the Klown in front of me): directly behind me were two ladies with a misbehaving toddler, who babbled and shouted out throughout the entire performance. They constantly rustled objects in an attempt to divert him. Geniusly, they had also sat deep into their row so that there was no way to remove the child without causing a major disruption, not that they even tried.
So at intermission, I snapped up a no-show’s reserved seat. While chatting with a young boy who shared his excitement about guitar workshops later in the week, I noticed that the very front row suddenly had a spot. BOOM.
Sitting there, epsecially by contrast, was like going from hell to guitar heaven. Tony Morris revived some classics; most notably posthumous discoveries of pre-​Segovian master Agustín Barrios Mangoré, transcribed by Morris and debuted that very night. He also honored us with the WORLD debut of his own ‘Corrido.’ I was glad to see his hands and hear his explanations of each song. The dramatic sound was completed by flautist Renata Green, a hybrid of Tori Amos and Claudia Schiffer with angel’s lungs.
Parting words: go early, and go alone. Or, go SUPER early with one person. Your seat can spoil or gild the experience here.

I came here for a kick-​off guitar concert hosted by the Americas Society, which was part of the 10^th Annual Guitar Festival at the Mannes School of Music.
Duo46, Jorge Caballero, Newman/​Oltman Guitar Duo, and Clarice Assad were performing some modern contemporary pieces in one of the beautiful rooms on the 2^nd floor. The concert logistics could have used a bit of improvement on the microphone system, but the artists were very very good — fantastic performance, and moreover, such a quality performance was gratis!
It was very refreshing to see some guitar recitals in NYC. As for the Americas Society, I hope to come back to it more for its cultural exhibits, talks/​lectures, filmings, and performances. Many of the topics and themes are focused on Latin America. Lots to absorb and enjoy!

We went here last night for a lecture by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s biographer. The lecture was great, and the building was gorgeous — the lecture room was the perfect size for the event, and the building has a lovely, old New York feel to it. I really enjoyed it, and will definitely attend more events here.