About Amazonia
The Choir
Founded in 2007 by conductor and composer Dr. Cristian Grases, and conducted since 2016 by Anaida Carquez-Soler, the ensemble is comprised of volunteer singers of diverse skill levels. The ensemble boasts a diverse breadth of repertoire, though it specializes in contemporary Latin American Music as well as original arrangements of Latin American folk/popular songs in English, Spanish, Quechua, Portuguese, Papiamento among others.
Amazonia Vocal Emsemble’s is part of Amazonia Music Corp., a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to celebrate and promote the rich cultural heritage of Latin American music, while also serving as a source of education and inclusion in our community. Amazonia’s performances highlight the common threads that connect us all, thus, inclusion is essential to our mission, and we strive to create a space where everyone feels welcome and valued, where individuals from all backgrounds can come together and share their passion for music. We believe that music has the power to transcend cultural barriers, and our goal is to use this power to build bridges and foster understanding within our community.
Amazonia plays a prominent role in bringing the choral music of Latin America to the spotlight in the south Florida community and is part of a growing movement to introduce Latin American Choral Music into the mainstream. Amazonia’s level of artistic excellence has been recognized through invitations to represent South Florida’s Hispanic community at important cultural venues nationwide: Casa de España, Puerto Rico; National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC; Carnegie Hall, New York, NY; Columbia University, New York, NY, and the 2020 Chorus America National Conference as featured choir.
Amazonia Vocal Ensemble promotes the inclusion of Latin American traditional repertoire in the choral practice of educational institutions in South Florida through choral festivals and residency initiatives at Florida International University’s Latin American Choral Festival and Women’s Choir Festival, Frost School of Music at University of Miami and several educational institutions, public libraries, community centers and high schools, among others, and through our strong ties with the community we have had the opportunity to collaborate in many joint projects with established artists, festivals, educational institutions and encounters in the community.
Additionally, the organization's collaboration with emerging choral conductors, instrumentalists, and composers from University of Miami and Florida International University and beyond our borders, has served as a talent incubator, integrating the academic and cultural background of the featured artists, to those of Amazonia and is a testament to its dedication to nurturing and supporting the next generation of artists and musicians in South Florida. Our most recent collaboration was the Latin American Choral Festival 2024, a joint project with Florida International University and other musical organizations from Miami and Europe.
Our goal is to keep expanding Amazonia’s outreach and nurture collaborations with colleagues, and educational institutions to grow even further our programming and educational mission.
Anaida Carquez Soler - Musical Conductor
Anaida is a Venezuelan Choral Conductor and Vocal Coach with a master’s degree in arts management from Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. She began her musical career as a student of Choral Conducting with María Guinand, leading the “Coro San José de Chacao”, affiliated with the National Academy of Gregorian Chant in Caracas, Venezuela.
As Vocal Coach and Assistant Conductor of the renowned and awarded choirs “Cantoría Alberto Grau” and the “Schola Cantorum de Venezuela”, Anaida was part of multiple and successful concert tours performed in Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America and USA. Nominated in 2002 and 2003 on the Grammy Award® and Latin Grammy Award® under the Best Classical Album for “Golijov: La Pasion Segun San Marcos” as Schola Cantorum de Venezuela’s Assistant Director. Also directed the Children’s Choir from “Colegio Emil Friedman”, Girls’ Choir from “Colegio Mater Salvatoris” and one of the groups of “Pequeños Cantores" that belongs to the Program "Construir Cantando” (Building through Singing), from Schola Cantorum de Venezuela.
As Vocal Coach and Assistant Conductor of the renowned and awarded choirs Cantoría Alberto Grau and Schola Cantorum de Venezuela, took part of multiple and successful concert tours performed in Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America and USA. Have performed extensively on the most renowned stages, such as: Lincoln Center, New York; Sydney Opera House, Australia; Taipei National Theatre & Concert Hall, Taiwan; Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Cremona Baptistery, Italy;St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican; St. Gallen Cathedral, Germany; Uppsala Cathedral and Stockholm's Domkyrka (Stockholm Cathedral),Sweden; Gran Teatre del Liceu (Liceu Opera), Barcelona, Spain; among others. In 2015 she participated as Vocal Coach with the “Schola Juvenil de Venezuela” in the “Europa Cantat XIX Festival”, in Pecs, Hungary, “Choralp Festival” in France and the “50 Festival de Cant Coral” in Barcelona, Spain.
Anaida was also a professor at “Música para Crecer Project” (Music to Grow Project), a program that uses music as a tool of social action and integration promoted by “Corporación Andina de Fomento – Banco de Desarrollo” (CAF –Development Bank of Latin America) in Latin American countries. She was the Founding Conductor of “Coro Municipal El Hatillo” in Caracas, Venezuela, a mixed community ensemble related to “Programa Construir Cantando” a Schola Cantorum Foundation Project that is based on the need to promote music education in Venezuela with special emphasis on communities with limited resources. Since 2011, Anaida has been part of the Board of Directors of the Schola Cantorum Foundation.
Anaida joined Amazonia Vocal Ensemble in 2016 as the choir's Musical Director when she moved to the United States. As Amazonia’s Director she has been invited as guest lecturer and to perform at Florida International University –FIU, University of Miami –UM,Carnegie Hall, Columbia University –NY, NovaSoutheastern University and many other community centers, public schools, libraries and churches along South Florida. She has also served as adjudicator and clinician in festivals, competitions, and choral encounters in South Florida, and has been recently invited as clinician by the Florida Vocal Association on itsannual conference.
Former Director of Voice Department in Conchita Espinosa Conservatory of the Arts and Choir Director at Conchita Espinosa Academy in Miami.
Invited multiple times to perform along with the Minnesota Chorale and Border CrosSing (Minnepolis, MN), Anaida was recently invited as guest conductor for the program Bridges: Creer/Believe (2022), a series of musical initiatives that harness the richness and diversity of the global choral repertoire to engage cultural communities and raise awareness of pressing social needs.
Cristian Grases - Founding Artistic Director
Dr. Cristian Grases joined the USC Thornton Faculty in the Fall 2010 semester as Assistant Professor of Choral Music and Conductor of the USC Thornton Concert Choir. Born in Venezuela, he earned degrees from the Simón Bolivar University (MM) where his principal teachers were María Guinand and Alberto Grau and the University of Miami (DMA). In 2004, Dr. Grases was selected by the International Federation for Choral Music as one of a five-member committee for the Songbridge Project, together with renowned choral masters and chaired by the creator of the project, Erkki Pohjola (Finland). He was selected to be part of the Board of Directors of the International Federation for Choral Music in 2008. In addition, Grases is currently chair of the Ethnic and Multicultural Repertoire and Standards Committee for the Western Division of the American Choral Directors Association.
During his time in Florida, Dr. Grases was the founder and artistic director of Amazonia Vocal Ensemble, based in Miami, with a focus on Latin American repertoire. He also served as conductor for the Women’s Chamber Ensemble of the University of Miami, was the assistant conductor of the Miami Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Eduardo Marturet, and the conductor of the Young Musician’s Orchestra.