Photo courtesy of Danceworks Performance MKE
Terra Papagalli (2026) promo image - Danceworks MKE
World premieres? Milwaukee sees several over the course of almost every performing arts season. However, Milwaukee audiences have probably never seen anything quite like the world premiere later this month of lost Baroque music from Brazil with original dance choreography. Written as concert music, not for dancing, the ornate structure of these compositions will come to new life like butterflies from cocoons.
The concert, “Terra Papagalli: Brazilian Colonial Music Meets Contemporary Movement,” was conceived by Early Musi Now with Aperi Animam and Danceworks Performance MKE. “Every year we try to collaborate with other Milwaukee groups who need to be seen by other people—to cross-pollinate audiences,” says EMN’s artistic director, Charles Grosz. “I saw Danceworks Performance MKE last summer at Dance Fest and was so impressed. They were so innovative, so full of energy. I kept them in mind.”
And they came to mind when Grosz was put in touch with a leading authority on early Brazilian music, Serio Dias. Over many years of research, the musicologist-conductor discovered manuscripts from 18th century Portuguese Brazilian composers. Some of that music might have been performed only once, and some of those manuscripts might have sat in drawers, never heard in public, awaiting discovery centuries later.
The audio portion of “Terra Papagalli” will be performed by a Baroque chamber orchestra comprised of nine Wisconsin and Illinois musicians and sung by Milwaukee’s early music choral group, Aperi Animam. “We’re always excited when we get to collaborate with such high quality community partners, and to have this collaboration organized around the presentation of this rarely-performed repertoire is particularly special. The music is excitingly written, and should be glorious when it all comes together,” says Paul Thompson, Aperi’s conductor.
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The visual motion comes courtesy of Danceworks Performance MKE. Working with a team of choreographers and dancers, Julieane Cook promises “a very abstract approach to embodying the music,” comparing the methodology to Merce Cunningham’s work with John Cage. “What people will see on stage will be vibrantly serendipitous. We’ve taken the idea of ‘Brazil: Land of the Parrots’ into embodying animalistic life forms—birds that allow dancers to leap and fly across the stage.
Expect swans, ostriches, parakeets—even a bird of paradise flower. “The choreography will feel grandiose, ceremonial and playful at the same time,” Cook says.
Just like the best Baroque music.
7:30 p.m. May 29 and 5 p.m. May 30 at the Zelao Center’s Helen Bader Concert Hall, 2419 E. Kenwood Blvd. The concert will be proceeded by a half hour talk by Sergio Dias. For tickets and more information, visit
