IBERIAN SUITE: GLOBAL ARTS REMIX

Mundo Perfeito made its U.S. debut with a double-bill program. Three fingers below the knee chronicles the censorship of theatrical performance during the fascist regime that ruled Portugal for nearly 50 years.

In By Heart, selected audience members are invited to memorize a poem written in English, with the show only ending when each can recite the lines from memory.

Teatro Meridional's Contos em Viagem—Cabo Verde speaks of Cape Verde through the words of Cape Verdean authors in both Portuguese and the native Cape Verdean Creole.

What I Heard About the World, performed by Portuguese theater company Mala Voadora and English company Third Angel, is a comedic series of thought-provoking and topical vignettes that attempt to describe a world that seems to get bigger by the day.

Jazz and world singer Carmen Souza was born in Lisbon within a family of Cape Verdeans, and grew up speaking Portuguese and Creole, the local dialect her parents spoke at home.

Arakaendar Choir and Orchestra, founded upon the rich history of Baroque musical manuscripts found in the missions of Bolivia, performs music in Latin, as well as in their seven native dialects.

Cuban-born pianist Iván "Melon" Lewis and his Continuum Quartet push the timba technique right to the heart of their music, instantly creating recognizable melodies brought to the summits of sophistication.

María Concepción Balboa Buika (Concha Buika) is an internationally recognized singer and prolific recording artist from Majorca who has earned multiple awards, including two Latin Grammys.

Carminho, one of Portugal's best-loved fado singers, performed several selections of her country's "soul music" with the National Symphony Orchestra.

PostClassical Ensemble's program, Iberian Mystics: The Confluence of Faiths, featured the Al-Bustan Takht Ensemble, comprised of four accomplished Arab musicians.

Inspired by the ebb and flow of Islamic, Catholic, and Jewish influences prior to the 1492 Reconquista, Trio Sefardi and others celebrated seven centuries of a rich and thriving multicultural world on the Iberian peninsula.

American soprano Harolyn Blackwell joined Orquestra Jovem do Estado for a program of symphonic music from Brazil.

Founded in 1979 in Brazil, this youth orchestra from São Paulo State made its United States debut at the Kennedy Center. Under the direction of maestro Cláudio Cruz, Orquestra Jovem do Estado has toured Brazil and Europe.

Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado Contemporâneo performed Fado, Rituals and Shadows, a work about the national music genre of Portugal.

María Muñoz, Artistic Director of Spain's Mal Pelo dance company, brought the U.S. premiere of her evocative 2004 solo piece Bach.

Tania Pérez-Salas, one of Mexico's most accomplished contemporary dancers and choreographers, brought a new work, Made in Mexico XX.

Made in Mexico XX features interwoven images rooted in Pérez-Salas's perspective as a Mexican artist, with music representing a collage of Mexican composers.

Manuela Pimentel's installation Se eu pudesse trincar a terra toda ("If I could sink my teeth into the whole earth") is named for a poem by Alberto Caeiro.

Manuela Pimentel pays tribute to the rich tradition of Portugal's Azulejo (painted, tin-glazed tile work) by creating her own—not from ceramics, but from layers of paper, posters, and messages coated with resin.

Manuela Pimentel says her work is "based on the stories that I have created from that which I see on the walls in the street or, in other words, that which the street passes onto me."

Installing Alexandre Farto's Perspectiva/Perspective in the Hall of Nations

Alexandre Farto (known as Vhils) is an internationally acclaimed urban artist who uses an array of mediums including cork, wood, paper, explosives, Styrofoam, and metal.

Nuno Vasa's installation is a cable car like those in Lisbon constructed of cork.

Nuno Vasa is known for sculptures, paintings, installations, and performances that express his personal reflections on quotidian life and surroundings, human relationships, and the human condition.

The installation So Blue So White—Fashions Centuries in the Making reflects the international passion for blue-and-white designs that continues to this day after Portuguese trading ships brought Chinese porcelain to Europe.

Portugal's Storytailors atelier created two whimsical gowns commissioned especially for the festival.

Launched in Lisbon in 2001 by João Branco (Portuguese) and Luis Sanchez (Venezuelan), Storytailors eschews the seasonal fashion calendar, creating wildly whimsical looks that are meant to be timeless and appeal to fashion mavens.

Storytailors' inspiration comes from musicals, legends, superstitions—even fairytales of their own invention.

Gown by Storytailors

Gown by Storytailors

Designs by NE•TIGER, China’s leading fashion and luxury brand. The company’s design philosophy is to integrate past and present, and to meld Chinese and Western influences.

Gown by NE•TIGER (detail)

Guo Pei, one of the top fashion designers in China today, creates award-winning couture collections renowned for celebrating Chinese history and culture.

Gowns by Guo Pei

Gown by Guo Pei (detail)

Paris haute couture house On Aura Tout Vu was founded by Portuguese André de sà Pessoa (since deceased) and Bulgarians Livia Stoianova and Yassen Samouilov.

Gown by On Aura Tout Vu (detail)

American artist Scott Gundersen used approximately 40,000 wine corks to create larger-than-life portraits of four masters of Spanish- and Portuguese-language letters for his installation Triptych + One. Pictured here is Federico García Lorca.

Gabriel García Márquez by Scott Gundersen

Gabriela Mistral by Scott Gundersen

Jorge Amado by Scott Gundersen

A Taste of Spain

A Taste of Mexico