Pataruco

In April 2025, I got to perform Ricardo Lorenz’s Pataruco: Concerto for Venezuelan Maracas and Orchestra. This has been a bucket list item for me ever since I first heard and studied the piece back in 2008 or so. I talk about it a bit in my dissertation and analyzed the influences and styles Lorenz used from traditional joropo. The score to Pataruco looks like most orchestral scores, using conventional notation on a musical staff. However, the solo part is mostly notated as rhythms with a few articulations throughout. Lorenz says to interpret these rhythms and articulations as various techniques on the maracas, so there are choices to make as a maraquero in order perform a convincing realization.

I am deeply grateful to my colleague at Georgia Tech, Chaowen Ting for programming and conducting this piece. Her willingness to rehearse this challenging work and take the time with me as the soloist was a great experience. I also owe a lot of my knowledge and ability on maracas to Manuel Rangel who I consider a good friend, and I’ve had the pleasure to study and perform with him. Additionally, I owe a lot to the maestro Juan Ernesto Laya “Layita” for his knowledge, teachings with me, and god-like maracas skills.