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Praised by folk legend Joan Baez as “the best young Chilean songwriter of his generation,” Stern is skilled across a range of instruments and languages and unites his talents to create a sound both utterly fresh and relevant. The grandson of Jewish refugees fleeing persecution, Nano’s childhood was painted vivid by not only his own family’s musicianship but by the powerful legacy of the Nueva Canción movement led by Chilean musical activists during Pinochet’s dictatorship a generation before. Legends like Inti-Illimani and Victor Jara -who suffered exile and even death during these troubling times- continue to inspire Nano’s breadth of sound and emotion.
Stern’s rise to fame has been meteoric, with a recording career spanning ten years that includes five award winning and critically acclaimed solo albums, a live solo album from Australia, a DVD, and collaborations with Swedish guitar master Mattias Perez (“Otoñal”) and youth folk supergroup Ethno in Transit. On his new album, Aún creo en la belleza, Stern explores the simple and subtle sounds of his inner worlds and landscapes. Since his USA debut performances at SXSW in March 2014, Stern has toured solo and with his trio to festivals and performing arts centers across Canada and the United States.
Prior to the concert, we will be presenting We’ll be Singing by September, a feature documentary exploring the history, development and transcendence of Chilean music during the socialist government of Salvador Allende. Throughout a series of interviews with the most prominent figures of the Nueva Canción Chilena, stop-motion animation and never before seen archival material, the film travels back to a time when music, creativity, social movements and political force aligned to give birth to an artistic revolution whose songs still resonate throughout the world. September 11 marks the 50th anniversary of the overthrow of Salvador Allende’s democratically-elected government by the military with the backing of the U.S. government.
