Recent interview with Ana Ruth Bermúdez, on occasion of her concert "Spanish Strings: a performance of Spanish and Latin American music" (4th of March, 2006). You can also see the original article (JPG; 628 kb).

'My fingers try to follow my voice, my voice tries to follow my heart'

Her eyes are closed. Her lips are moving as in prayer. Ana Ruth Bermudez is playing the cello. "When I close my eyes, I am closer to my soul."Nothing else exists for her. "When I play, the music is in my mind and in my heart," she explains. "When I close my eyes, I am closer to my soul."

Born in Havana, Cuba, Bermudez is the youngest of three siblings. Of her two brothers, one is a musician who plays many instruments - the piano, the saxophone, the accordion. His little sister used to follow him around, singing along to his music. One day he asked if she would like to learn an instrument and he took her to the school of music where she was tested for ear, and also for temperament. She passed with flying colors. "My brother encouraged me to look at the cello," Bermudez recalls, "because of my sensibility and my love for singing and perhaps because of my large hands. He felt the instrument closest to my feelings would be the cello." By chance, an American cellist came to Havana about this time. "My brother took me to hear her," Bermudez recalls. "She played a beautiful concerto... and I fell in love with the cello."

Bermudez, who holds a B.M. in Cello Performance from the "Amadeo Roldan" Conservatory of Music, and "Superior Institute of Art" in Havana, also spent many years in Russia, "you are looking for something all the time" studying at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow. A circuitous route led her back to Cuba and then to Venezuela. All this time she was an active performer: both as a soloist and a chamber musician. And she was also a commited teacher. "When you leave your country," she muses, you are looking for something all the time. You are looking for a place that calls to you. After seven years in Venezuela, I felt the need for a change in my life once again. Friendship brought me to Wisconsin and here in Milwaukee, my friends are my family, I have wonderful, wonderful friends."

Saturday's concert in Cedarburg will feature Bermudez playing with a very dear friend. A classical guitarist, Rene Izquierdo also halls from Cuba. Coincidentally, the two studied at the same school in Havana, but never actually met one another... until they both landed in Milwaukee, that is. A friend from Venezuela who teaches at UW Milwaukee, where Izquierdo is also on the faculty, invitied the two Cubans for dinner at her house. They became close friends. "Three days after I met Rene, I felt as if he was part of my family," says Bermudez. "I have met many, many Cuban people since I left my country but Rene has been the most special person for me. I feel our meeting was destiny. He feels the same way."

"Cello with classical guitar is a wonderful and natural combination," says Bermudez. "Both instruments are very close to the human souls and the sound goes directly to the feelings of the people." Judge for yourself when the two gifted musicians come together for "Spanish Strings," a performance of Spanish and Latin American music at 8 p.m. on March 4 at the Cedarburg Cultural Center. Sit back and let the passion and sensuous rhythms of Cuba sweep over you when Ana Ruth Bermudez and Rene Izquierdo start to play.