Gabo: A Love Letter is inspired by Gabriel García Márquez’s most famous novels, with traditional and classical music from Latin composers woven together with narrated passages from One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera.
Victoria Botero, Soprano, narrator
Nilko Andreas, Guitar, narrator
Amado Espinoza, Percussion, flutes, narrator
Calvin Arsenia, Harp, vocals, narrator
Ricardo Gallo, Accordion and Piano
Carlos Mena, Bass
Andres Forero, Percussion
“Then he looked at Florentino Ariza, his invincible power, his intrepid love, and he was overwhelmed by the belated suspicion that it is life, more than death, that has no limits.”
― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
The Cecilia Series returns to The 1900 Building for its largest project yet, Gabo: A Love Letter, based on the magical realism of Colombian author and Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel García Márquez, affectionately known as “Gabo.” Produced by The Cecilia Series, critically acclaimed concerts curated by soprano Victoria Botero, Gabo: A Love Letter follows the sinuous tales told in One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera. Performed by an extraordinary international cast of musicians, storytellers, and culture bearers, traditional and classical music from Latin composers is woven together with narrated passages from Gabo’s most famous novels. Featuring the Colombian vallenato genre which inspired García Márquez to write One Hundred Years of Solitude, globalized by singer Carlos Vives, and declared a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. It is a unique music from the Caribbean coast of Colombia with accordion, flute, and percussion that emerged from a land where truth, myth, and legend are inseparable. Classical music underscores the delicacy of Love in the Time of Cholera in the second half of the program, including arias from Daniel Catan’s rarely heard Florencia en las Amazonas and the exquisite duet from Lakme.
The Cecilia Series has collaborated with The Restaurant at 1900 for a special VIP event of pre-performance food and drinks inspired by the program. There are a very limited number of tickets for this feature, be sure to purchase before they sell out!
The pre-concert event will be from 6:00 - 7:00pm
The concert will begin at 7:30pm
Already one of the best-selling authors of our time, the pandemic stirred millions more to pick up Gabriel García Márquez’s iconic novels as they tried to make sense of the lockdown. His universal themes of love, loneliness, and inescapable fate are perfectly matched with the profound narratives found in the vallenato, cumbia, and bambuco rhythms of Colombia and beyond. Gabo: A Love Letter is a transformative celebration of Gabo’s words, with music and imagery reflecting not only what has passed, but all the beauty that remains.
"Most creative concept," "a valentine to Gabriel García Márquez, the much acclaimed master of magical realism in...One Hundred Years of Solitude. I love that book."
- Patrick Neas, The Kansas City Star
"A brilliant soprano," "The Cecilia Series devotes much of its programming to music and culture of Latin America,"
Paul Horsley, The Independent Magazine
"The magic realism of Gabriel García Márquez comes to Kansas City"
Jose Faus, KC Hispanic News
Created by Victoria Botero in 2016, The Cecilia Series explores the cultural meaning of the song repertoire, finding the connective tissue between composers, writers, and artists of many eras and traditions. “Soprano, Victoria Botero is one of Kansas City’s most passionate and caring performers. A concert by Botero is more than just a recital of beautiful songs, it’s a reflection on the human condition.” (Kansas City Star).
La Mar, NYC based ensemble specializing in traditional music of Latin America, led by Nilko Andreas