Centro Cultural Internacional Oscar Niemeyer

Barbara Hendricks, musical matinée at the Niemeyer Center

22 March 2009

After the visit of Wim Wenders and Carlos Saura to Avilés, the US singer Barbara Hendricks was at the Niemeyer Center for the first classical music concert, following the Enrique Morente and Amancio Prada concerts. Classical music will be one of the referents, once the center is inaugurated.

Barbara Hendricks, who received the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, came back to Asturias nine years later to offer a concert in Avilés. Aside from her artistic career, she has always stood out for her involvement in humanitarian activities. She has been nominated Honorary Ambassador for Life by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In 2001, she performed at the Nobel Prize ceremony, at the request of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kofi Annan. In 1998, she founded the Barbara Hendricks Foundation for peace and Reconciliation.

Hendricks performed pieces by Franz Schubert, François Poulenc and Manuel de Falla, accompanied on the piano by Love Derwinger.