COMPOSER IMPROVISER MULTI INSTRUMENTALIST EDUCATOR
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Christopher is a a "native" of (East) Los Angeles,
"Grew up in Belvedere, between Boyle Heights and Maravilla in the county of (EAST) Los Angeles i.e., not the city." (California, USA) His background includes performances in a wide variety of musical settings including; avant garde chamber music, folkloric music, indigenous and traditional music of Mexico Jazz, percussion ensemble, Rock, soundtracks, symphonic music, World Music, ZAPPA music and cartoon music.(!) with concerts in 28 countries on 5 continents |
MENTORS
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He attributes his musical growth to his mentors - Pandit Taranath Rao, John Bergamo, and Swapan Chaudhuri where he studied North Indian tabla, South Indian kanjira, ghatam and western percussion, while attending California Institute of the Arts on a full scholarship for 18 months, where he was also a member of the (only) award winning Cal Arts Percussion Ensemble in 1979 under the direction of Guruji John Bergamo.
(PLEASE VISIT TABLA/TEACHERS/LIFE LINK for additional info http://christophergarciamusic.weebly.com/tabla---teacherslife.html The experience of thousands of hours of rehearsals, performances, recordings, and tours with a who's who of artists from very different genres with very different vernaculars and very different resonances continue to invite him to collaborate. |
COMPOSER
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as a composer he continues to receive commissions for
indigenous instruments of Mexico/Mesoamerica or percussion of India with classical guitar pedal harp percussion ensembles piano forte sarode sitar surbahar string quartet woodwind quintet 2008 Garcia is invited to coach the percussion section of the BAKERSFIELD SYMPHONY, CA USA for their presentation of CARLOS CHAVEZ SINFONIA INDIA SILVESTRE REVUELTAS SENSEMAYA with indigenous instruments of Mesoamerica/Mexico christophergarciamusic.weebly.com/symphonic.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2011 - 2012 INDIGENA Garcia composed music for indigenous breath, string and percussion instruments and woodwind quintet premiered by Christopher Garcia and QUINTETO LATINO christophergarciamusic.weebly.com/quinteto-latino.html (60 minutes of music) multiple performances throughout California, USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2013 AGUILA www.youtube.com/watch?v=au4UzOi0Oeg composed by Christopher Garcia compositions for indigenous breath, string and percussion instruments and woodwind quintet performed at the LATINO CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL held in San Francisco, CA by Christopher Garcia - indigenous breath, percussion and string percussion of Mesoamerica/Mexico with QUINTETO LATINO christophergarciamusic.weebly.com/quinteto-latino.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MISA AZTECA a modern symphonic oratorio with lyrics in Latin, Nahuatl and Spanish composed by Joseph Julian Gonzalez Christopher played indigenous percussion of Mexico/Mesoamerica at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA USA christophergarciamusic.weebly.com/misa-azteca.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2014/2015 MEXCLA MUSIC compositions for indigenous breath, string and percussion instruments and classical guitar with multiple performances throughout California, USA MEXCLA MUSIC SITE mexclamusic.weebly.com/ CLICK ON LINK TO VIEW YOUTUBE www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3Ag5_yLOvA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2016 A SCATTERING OF JADES www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7PSZOWN92Y composed by Christopher Garcia compositions for indigenous breath, string and percussion instruments and pedal harp musicbeyondborders.weebly.com/ (EXCERPT FROM MUSIC BEYOND BORDERS 90 MINUTES TOTAL ) premiered at EL CASTILLO DE CHAPULTEPEC 2016 Mexico City, MX performed by MUSIC BEYOND BORDERS with Christopher Garcia and Tasha Smith Godinez ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2017 OUT OF THE MAYAN TOMBS nightfirefilms.org/films/out-of-the-maya-tombs/ Garcia provided music on indigenous instruments of Mexico/Mesoamericafor the documentary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MISA AZTECA CHAMBER VERSION with Christopher Garcia Indigenous percussion instruments of Mesoamerica/Mexico CLICK ON LINK TO VIEW PLAYLIST www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7GMXRQo3CSi1JRkCMw3Jy8aNjNCQUaq7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aztec Flower Songs and Story: The Prophetical Case for Guadalupe Lectures organized by Joseph Julian Gonzalez with Dr. Ezekiel Stear and Christopher Garcia presenting Indigenous musical performance practices Presented at BOWERS MUSEUM Santa Ana, CA USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2018 RESONANCIA MULTI MEDIA EVENT CAL ARTS INAUGURAL LATIN FEST compositions for indigenous breath, string and percussion instruments and marimba pedal harp woodwind trio classical guitar ADD YOUTUBE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EHECATL composed by Christopher Garcia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JirYb2WMfeA compositions for indigenous breath, string and percussion instruments and piano forte extended techniques electronics manipulation of sound in real time (EXCERPT FROM MEXICO ATEMPORAL 60 MINUTES TOTAL ) premiered at FUNDACION SEBASTIAN Mexico City, MX MEXICO ATEMPORAL Christopher Garcia - indigenous breath, percussion and string percussion of Mesoamerica/Mexico= with Pablo Lenero Archer - piano forte MEXICO ATEMPORAL SITE mexicoatemporalmusic.weebly.com/about.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2019 RESONANCIA XOCHI CUICATL FLOWER SONGS MUSIC FLOR Y CANTO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JirYb2WMfeA compositions for indigenous breath, string and percussion instruments marimba poetry of MesoAmerica voice FLOWER SONGS MUSIC SITE flowersongsmusic.weebly.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UCLA SYMPHONY presents CARLOS CHAVEZ SINFONIA INDIA christophergarciamusic.weebly.com/sinfonia-india-ucla.html instruments provided for and percussion ensemble coached by Christopher Garcia the piece was performed back to back for the first time 1st with western substitute instruments followed by a performance with indigenous instruments as the piece was originally intended ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE MUSIC OF FRANK ZAPPA performed at St Katharinen Church Hamburg, Germany Garcia invited to play Zappas music on concert marimba united-mutations.blogspot.com/2019/07/zappanale-30-hamburg-event.html zappanale-festival.de/en/archiv/programm-26/tag/Zappanale%2030.html?start=12 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2020 Garcia was one of 19 musicians invited to participate @ Defining New Directions in Latin America and Latino Concert Music Exploratory Seminar @ RADCLIFFE INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDY @ HARVARD projects.iq.harvard.edu/latmusic/people/christopher-garcia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2021 Garcia was invited to present music for NAHUA VOICES ON THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO: "De cómo los españoles conquistaron a la ciudad de México" Book 12, Florentine Codex www.getty.edu/visit/cal/events/ev_3330.html in conjunction with GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE (GRI) THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART (LACMA) BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE ANTROPOLOGIA E HISTORIA CLICK ON LINK TO EXPERIENCE THIS EVENT www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4pxnDRKCHI With his ensemble FLOWER SONGS MUSIC XOCHI CUICATL FLOR Y CANTO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2022 Garcia is invited to compose and collaborate with PERCUSSION UNDER CONSTRUCTION, a percussion ensemble based in Germany, that he had the pleasure of working with in 2019 A world premiere of original compositions for indigenous breath, string and percussion instruments and western orchestral percussion. His fascination with rhythm and the color of sound allows him to be a group member and frequent collaborator/composer with various critically acclaimed classical, jazz, rock, and world music ensembles with whom he continues to concertize with performances in: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Korea, Macedonia, Mexico, Norway, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, the United States and Wales, over 1200 performances on 5 continents. |
MULTI INSTRUMENTALIST/IMPROVISER
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He continues to be in demand with a career
with drumset, marimba, percussion instruments of North and South India including: tabla, kanjira, and ghatam, along with indigenous percussion instruments of various regions of Mexoamerica/Mexico including: atecocolli, ayacaxtli, baa wehai, huilacapiztli tlapan huehuetl, teponaztli tlapitzalli and baa wehai, employing extended techniques using fingers, hands and stickings in a variety of jazz, rock and world music settings. |
EDUCATOR
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As an educator he has given interactive lecture demonstrations
from the middle school level to universities across the world on improvisation and its different vernaculars breath, string and percussion instruments of indigenous Mexico - Aztec/Mexica/Mayan/Raramuri percussion instruments of North and South India rhythm and percussion instruments of the world and more along with being a resource for chamber and symphonic orchestras as a featured soloist and as a resource for composers about the mechanics of composing for and playing percussion working with their percussion sections and sharing techniques of playing non western instruments which do not respond the way that western orchestral percussionists are accustomed to and sharing his experience with the beauty and the nature of the resonance and silence of music with all ages, ethnicities and cultures in musical and non musical settings His website on indigenous instruments of Mexico and various YOUTUBES demonstrating the instruments in solo and ensemble settings continues to be acknowledged as an excellent educational overview to these instruments, their histories and performance practices with 101,000 views as of this writing and his website continues to have over 2,000 monthly visits in 2013 two of his compositions were featured at the LATIN AMERICAN CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL held in San Francisco the only performer/composer to perform at the festival https://www.oldfirstconcerts.org/ql-latin-american-chamber-music-festival-2/ |
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His passion for music and its many facets,
learning, refining, cultivating, nurturing and teaching it, is always in a precarious never ending balance with his passion for the SUPREME, FAMILIA and his MUSIC by the grace of the CREATOR, the love of music, emotional support from his familia and lots and lots of hard work his work continues worldwide ..................... |
