Album Recorded by FAU Music Professors Receives Latin Grammy Nomination

An album recorded by Alejandro Sánchez-Samper (professor) and Matt Baltrucki (associate professor), both from Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Music in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, recently received a Latin Grammy nomination. The album is titled  “El Trebol Agorero,” by the Quinteto Leopoldo Federico. This is the fourth Latin Grammy nomination for an album by Quinteto Leopoldo Federico recorded by Sánchez-Samper and Baltrucki.

 The album was nominated in the Best Folk Album category. The Latin Grammy Awards will take place on Thursday, Nov. 16.

“I am very proud of this recognition of the work Professors Sánchez-Samper and Baltrucki are doing to preserve the important musical traditions of Colombian Andean music,” said Michael Horswell, dean of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letter. “The research and technical expertise they bring to the project that results in these albums is world-class. I hope everyone with interest in this beautiful music will listen to the album.”

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. 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, Itinerante, Trio Palosanto 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.

The first two albums from the Quinteto Leopoldo Federico were produced by Sánchez-Samper and were released through 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.