Click here for a sneak preview!
ol y Canto is the nationally-touring and Boston Music Award winning Pan-Latin ensemble led by Puerto Rican/Argentine singer and bongo player Rosi Amador and New Mexican guitarist and composer Brian Amador. Featuring Rosi's crystalline voice, Brian's lush Spanish guitar, and virtuoso musicians from Uruguay, Perú, Panamá and Argentina on piano, winds, bass, and percussion, the sextet has established a reputation for their quirky original compositions that address matters of the heart, social and global aspiration, and for their unique and driving interpretations of contemporary Latin music.
Since 1994, Sol y Canto has brought audiences to their feet from the Kennedy Center to the White House, the California World Music Festival to Boston's Symphony Hall, Puerto Rico's Museo de Arte to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Boston Globe hails them "sublime ambassadors of the Pan-Latin tradition" and their many accolades include Best of Boston for Latin rhythms by Boston Magazine and Outstanding Latin Act by the Boston Music Awards. Music critic Norman Weinstein of the Christian Science Monitor and Boston Phoenix explains:
"Every Sol y Canto album is a demonstration of what the poet Federico García Lorca identified as "deep song. Always they evoke the sensual splendor of simply being vitally, vividly alive in a magical and mysterious universe. Brian Amador is a Spanish modernist poet in the guise of a musician...Together, Rosi and Brian Amador create a musical marriage made in heaven."
Sol y Canto is known for making their music accessible to Spanish- and non-Spanish speaking audiences of all ages. Musical director/composer Brian was the first Latino ever to be commissioned by Boston's preeminent Celebrity Series to
compose a Latin orchestral suite, Prisma de amores, which has toured nationwide with classical ensembles from symphony orchestras to string quartets. Their debut recording, Sancocho, on Rounder Records, was chosen by Scott Alarik of The Boston Globe as one of the ten best recordings of 1994. Sendero del Sol, their 1996 Rounder Records release produced by renowned Panamanian jazz pianist Danilo Pérez, was chosen as "one of the best of the year" by Hispanic Magazine. Sol y Canto's fall 1999 album, En Todo Momento, was featured by People en Español as one of the year's HITS in 2000. Their newest (Rounder 2003) release and a Parents Choice Award winner, Twice as Many Friends/El Doble de Amigos, features a fun and celebratory collection of bilingual children's songs for singing, dancing and learning.
top of page
Artists
Brian Amador • Musical director, arrangements, acoustic guitar, vocals, percussion
Of Mexican heritage, born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Brian was a founding member, arranger and co-producer of two albums with Flor de Caña. In 
1995 he received a highly competitive artist grant awarded to the state's "exceptional artists" by the Massachusetts Cultural Council for music composition. He studied classical guitar and improvisation at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and flamenco guitar in Madrid, Spain. For five years, he was principal guitarist for the Ramon de los Reyes Spanish Dance Theater. He has spent the last ten years adapting his classical and flamenco technique to different Latin American musical styles, incorporating influences from Africa and the French and English speaking islands of the Caribbean. He is the group’s primary composer of original songs.
Rosi Amador • Company director, lead vocals, bongó, percussion
Of Argentine and Puerto Rican heritage, Rosi was raised by performer parents, who passed on to her their love of Latin American rhythms and musical styles.
Her mother was a dancer, singer and actress, appearing in the U.S. and Europe with Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, among others, and in Mexico with comic actor "Cantinflas" (Mario Moreno). Her father began in radio in Buenos Aires and later became an actor, touring all over Latin America. With ten years of training as a soprano, Rosi was one of award-winning Flor de Caña's founding members and manager for ten years. She has been deeply influenced by popular Latin music, jazz, North American folk, blues and contemporary African vocal styles. With her husband she joyfully parents identical twin daughters Sonia and Alisa, born in April 1996.
Tim Mayer • Flute, saxophone
Having grown up in Oregon and California, Tim Mayer came to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music, from which he 
graduated in 1996. Tim enjoys an active schedule of performing and recording in styles as diverse as Jazz, Latin, Cape Verdean, and Pop. He has performed with and recorded for such artists as Maynard Ferguson, Slide Hampton, Arturo Sandoval, Eguie Castrillo, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Antonio Sanchez, Bana, The Mendes Brothers, Mandy Moore, and Rachel Yamagata. Tim currently teaches at Berklee in the 5-Week and City Music programs.
Nando Michelin • Piano, keyboards
After a very successful career in his homeland Uruguay, Nando Michelin came to Boston to develop his skills as piano player and composer at the Berklee College
of Music. Since his graduation in 1991, he has recorded extensively here and in Uruguay with several acclaimed artists such as singer Teresa Inez and jazz trumpeter Tony D’Aveni, and his own band, comprising Jerry Bergonzi, Fernando Huergo, Steve Langone and Sula Da Silva. Nando also did the musical direction for tango/jazz singer Katie Viqueira's album "El Otro Lado" (The Other Side), has recorded a series of monthly performances with singer Giana Viscardi at the Acton Jazz Café, and serves as pianist for the Felipe Salles group. Other artists he has collaborated with include MPB icons Jair Rodrigues, Flavio Venturini, and Celso Adolfo. Currently, he teaches at Berklee College of Music, Brookline Music School, and Tufts University.
Jorge Roeder • Acoustic and Electric Basses
A native from Lima, Peru, Jorge has performed a wide range of styles, including Peruvian Creole and Folkloric music, Jazz, Central and South American music, 
Classical and Rock. He began playing cello and electric bass at age 14, and later he switched to Double Bass at age 19, performing mostly Classical music and Jazz. He became assistant principal bassist of the Lima Philharmonic and Opera orchestras on the 2001-2002 season. After moving to Boston in the fall of 2002, Jorge got a degree in Jazz Performance from the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Danilo Pérez, Bob Moses, John Lockwood, Oscar Stagnaro and Charlie Banacos. Jorge has performed and recorded with artists such as Alex Acuna, Herbie Hancock, Victor Mendoza, Steve Turre, Roy Haynes and Bob Moses, among others.
Renato Thoms • Percussion
Born in Colón, Panamá, Renato began his music training at the Conservatory of the National University of Heredia in Costa Rica. After earning a Bachelor of Music 
Performance degree at Berklee College of Music, Renato received his Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies at The Boston Conservatory in 1998. Renato has performed with numerous well-regarded musicians and ensembles, including Rubén Blades, Eddie Palmieri's Latin Jazz & Salsa Orchestra, the Danilo Pérez Quintet, Brian Lynch, Hilton Ruiz, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jon Lucien, Paquito D'Rivera, Victor Mendoza, Conrad Herwig, Antonio Hart and the late Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez. Mr. Thoms was a finalist in the 2000 Thelonious Monk Hand Drumming competition, and cast member-musician of the 2005 Broadway production of the Mambo Kings.
Resources for Parents/Educators
El Doble de Amigos Activity Guide
Instructions for children singers —
El doble de amigos family concerts
Kids' clothing recommendations
DO wear:
Pastels or brightly colored clothes- solids (no patterns)
Nice shoes
DON’T wear:
Hats
Jeans
Shirts with logos and/or large lettering
Sneakers
Buy - El doble de amigos CD
Lyrics
Click here to down load an Acrobat file of our lyrics
top of page