The Brooklyn Accordion Club has two exciting meetings coming up in August which will be held on Zoom.

The first Zoom meeting will be held on August 16, 2020 at 2:PM EST and will feature a Brazilian Music Workshop with Rob Curto (photo right) who is an accordionist, composer, arranger and keyboardist based in New York City and Philadelphia. He is a founding member of the band Matuto which was selected to showcase at WOMEX (world music conference) in 2011 and chosen to represent the United States State Department overseas as part of the American Music Abroad program in 2013 and 2015.

Rob has released 4 CDs as a band leader and is a prolific composer/arranger. His musical collaborations include performing and recording with Latin Grammy award winner Lila Downs, Klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer, trumpeter/composer Frank London, Punjabi Indian singer Kiran Ahluwalia and icon of Brazilian Forró, the great accordionist Dominguinhos. He is widely regarded as one of forró’s foremost ambassador in the States. An early devotee of North American swing music, bebop piano, funk, rock, and blues, he has combined these influences with his mastery of their Brazilian counterparts forró, chorinho, samba, maracatu, and frevo to produce stunning new results. He spent years living and playing in Brazil, completely absorbing and interpreting the country’s musical traditions.

The second Zoom meeting will be held on August 30, 2020 at 2:PM EST and features Improvisation with Vitor Gonçalves (photo left) who is a pianist, accordionist, composer and arranger from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After an illustrious career as an in demand musician in Brazil, playing with such icons as Hermeto Pascoal, Maria Bethânia, Itiberê Zwarg, and many others. He currently lives in New York City.

A frequent resident on the stages of Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Jazz Standard, and the Jazz Gallery, Vitor leads his own quartet, co-leads the groups SanfoNYa Brasileira and Regional de NY, and collaborates with figures in the New York scene such as Anat Cohen, Vinícius Cantuária, Yotam Silberstein, Anthony Wilson, Cyro Baptista, and others. He also has played in Jazz Festivals and venues around the world, such as Newport Jazz, Jazz à Vienne, Umbria Jazz Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the Coliseum in Lisbon, Portugal.

Admission to both is free.

For further information: brooklynaccordionclub@gmail.com