Ron Conner is a composer, writer, pianist, and Brazilian ethnomusicologist living in Los Angeles. He has traveled extensively throughout Brazil, studying its music and language, and has published several articles about urban samba in Rio de Janeiro, post-slavery Afro-Bahian musical migrations and MPB (Música Popular Brasileira). Before he discovered Brazil, Ron spent several months in Eastern Europe researching and composing a musical stage drama about the December 1989 trial and execution of Romania's stupendously cruel dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu. The result, "The Fall of Ceausescu," was recently (finally!) produced with a Broadway-veteran cast at the Los Angeles Theater Center with Ron directing.
Desert Island Picks
Tori Amos - from the choirgirl hotel
Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved A Man (The Way That I Love You)
Bonnie Raitt - Luck of the Draw
Paul Simon - Rhythm of the Saints
Sergei Prokofiev - Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (Violin, Isaac Stern; New York Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta)
Sergei Prokofiev - Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3 (Piano, Gary Graffman, Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by George Szell)
Heitor Villa-Lobos - Modinhas e Canções
Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird/Pulcinella Suite/The Fairy's Kiss (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Yuri Temirkanov)
Carl Orff - Carmina Burana (San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt)
Cesaria Evora - Cesaria Evora
Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir - Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares
Zbigniew Preisner - Original Soundtrack for the film Red
Ennio Morricone - Original Soundtrack for the film The Mission
Various Artists - Nova Bossa: Red Hot on Verve
Os Ingênuos - Choros from Brazil
Elis Regina - Essa Mulher
Gal Costa - A Arte de Gal Costa
