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Local Commercial Music Professors Receive Latin Grammy Nomination

Alejandro Sánchez-Samper and Matt Baltrucki, both from Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Music, recently received a Latin Grammy nomination for the album “Quinteto con Voz,” by the Quinteto Leopoldo Federico. Sánchez-Samper, a professor of music at FAU, co-produced the album with Giovanni Parra, the director and bandoneon player for the Quinteto. Baltrucki, an assistant professor of music at FAU, along with Sánchez-Samper and multi-Latin Grammy engineer Mauricio Cano engineered the album.

This is the third Latin Grammy nomination for the Quinteto Leopoldo Federico and Alejandro Sánchez-Samper and Matt Baltrucki. Their two previous albums, “Bogotá-Buenos Aires” (Latin Grammy nominee in 2015 in the Best Tango Album Category) and “Pa’ Que Más: Música Andina Colombiana” (Latin Grammy nominee in 2017 in the Best Folk album category), were recorded and distributed through FAU’s record label Hoot/Wisdom Recordings. “Quinteto con Voz,” the Quinteto’s third album, was recorded in September 2019 as a joint venture between Parra and the Teatro Colsubsidio Roberto Arias Pérez, one of Bogotá’s leading performance venues. The album was nominated in the Best Folk Album category. The Latin Grammy Awards will take place on Thursday, Nov. 19.

The Quinteto Leopoldo Federico is a musical ensemble from Bogotá, Colombia, that has gained reputation internationally as both a world-class tango quintet and as ambassadors for musical forms from the Andes region of Colombia.

“Colombian Andean music is one of the richest, yet most often misunderstood musical styles of Colombia,” said Sánchez-Samper. “For us, the greatest value behind these nominations lies in the opportunity to bring more attention and appreciation to the musicians and composers that dedicate their lives to this art.”

Aside from his work with the Quinteto Leopoldo Federico, Sánchez-Samper has produced albums for other Colombian Andean music artists such as el Trio Nueva Colombia, Natalia Bedoya, Palos y Cuerdas and Saavedra. He is the faculty supervisor for FAU’s Hoot/Wisdom Recordings and teaches Sound Recording I, II and III, Introduction to Arranging and Introduction to Music Business.

Baltrucki works with ensembles across many diverse styles of music, from traditional and modern classical chamber music, to contemporary tango, jazz, punk, metal, indie rock and popular music genres. He has worked on albums released on numerous record labels including ATMA Classique, Centaur, Broken World Media, Top Shelf Records and Hoot/Wisdom Recordings.

With two state-of-the-art recording studios, Hoot/Wisdom Recordings is one of only a handful of recording labels housed on a university campus. To date, the label has released more than 30 albums. For more information about FAU’s Hoot/Wisdom Recordings, visit www.hootwisdom.com.

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