To conclude a year of performances in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Lorenz’s Pataruco: Concerto for Venezuelan Maracas and Orchestra, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and soloist Ed Harrison performed the work at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion of Chicago’s Millennium Park. During the 2009-2010 season, the work received performances in Nevada, Oregon and in Mexico by percussionists Ricardo Gallardo and Terry Longshore. Pataruco was the result of a close collaboration between Venezuela-native Ricardo Lorenz and Ed Harrison, who studied with maraca virtuoso Maximo B. Teppa while on tenure as percussionist with the Caracas Philharmonic during the early 1980s. Harrison, current principal timpanist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, premiered the work with the Chicago Sinfonietta in 1999 and recorded it with the Czech National Symphony a year later for Albany Records. Pataruco has also received performances by Venezuelan maraca player and Atlanta Symphony bass clarinetist Alcides Rodriguez.
