FRIDAY AUGUST 7 :: 7:30 - 9:30PM Opening Benefit Concert BMF Choro Collective: Laura Dreyer (flute & sax), Billy Newman (six string guitar), and Fernando Saci (pandeiro) Group Choro das 3: Corina-flute, Lia-acoustic guitar - seven chords), Elisa (bandolin, clarinet & banjo) and Eduardo (pandeiro). DIMENNA CENTER 450 West 37th Street - (Btwn: 9th & 10th Ave. - NYC) Price: $ 25 (All proceeds will go to BMF org) BMF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Purchase Tickets

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SUNDAY AUGUST 9 :: 5:00 - 8:40PM

Regional NY: Ranjan Ramchandani (percussion), Hadar Noiberg (flute), Cesar Garabini (7 string guitar) and Kahil Nayton (cavaquinho) Roda do Choro - $5 suggestion BECO BAR: 45 Richardson Street - Brooklyn Purchase Tickets

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WEDNESDAY AUGUST 12

6:30PM Choro Down Neck: Jessica Valiente (flute & piccolo), Maggie Faulkner (bandolin & violin), Rick Faulkner (trombone), Ivan Max(acoustic guitar), Pete Abazia (pandeiro) 7:30PM Billy Newman Acoustic Quartet: Billy Newman (6 string guitar), Felicia de Sanctis (seven string guitar) Tom Armstrong (Pandeiro) & Dominique Gagne (flute) Tickets per show $10 DROM 85 Ave A (btwn: 5th and 6h St) - Manhattan Purchase Tickets Fundraiser for the Brazilian Music Foundation, a non-profit organization promoting Brazilian culture and music via educational and performance programs. Brazilian Music Foundation. Org, Inc., (BMF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to education, research, promotion, preservation and advancement of Brazilian music in the United States, Brazil and other countries. The foundation was created in May 2013 by Madalena Sousa, business administrator and producer of Asuos Productions, Inc., after realizing how music education can change and enhance people's lives, by and help children off the streets in Brazil and other countries. We believe that music can improve the quality of life of the individuals and families leading to a happier and healthier society. We will support programs that use music to enable every child to feel like an asset within her or his community. Playing a musical instrument has many benefits: it can bring joy to you and to everyone around you. The Foundation will promote, develop, educate the public about the Brazilian music, and produce cultural events, which will unify and support the Brazilian musicians living in New York City. The organization will provide 20% of all donated funds to other non-profit music organizations located in Brazil, who are committed to remove children off streets, teach music, and give them the opportunity for a better life. EVENT DETAIL: Those who appreciate the genuine sound of Brazilian instrumental music will have the opportunity, from the day August 7 to 15 , to enjoy the First International Festival of Choro Festival in the city of New York. The event will be held in different dates and venues. (See lineup online). The festival brings together local musicians and musicians from Brazil presenting traditional Choro and new compositions. The event will also mark the inauguration of the First International Choro Festival in New York City with presence BMF Choro Collective (BMFSOM teachers), Choro das 3, Regional NY, Choro Down Neck and Billy Newman Acoustic Quartet and special guests. Choro (pronounced SHOH-roh) is best described in American terms as "the New Orleans jazz of Brazil." It is a complex popular musical form based on improvisation, and like New Orleans jazz, blues, or ragtime, grew from a formalized musical structure and many worldly influences. But to the people of South America, choro is Brazil. It is life! The word choro in Portuguese literally means "to cry," which seems like an ironic name for music that is often so joyous and celebratory. Actually the term refers to the lilting or "weeping" qualities of the solo instrument, usually a flute or clarinet (Think of the way Benny Goodman could "wail"). The First Festival of Choro NYC aims at the dissemination and preservation of crying - oldest gender and rich instrumental music of Brazil, present since the nineteenth century in all regions of the country. These days, Choro is enjoying a renaissance not only in Brazil but around the world, and the wave of enthusiasm has definitely reached New York City, where the BMF is proud to host the First International Choro Festival.