El Comercio - Ecuador - Arte y gastronomía se fusionan en Sonidos y Sabores

El placer de la música y el deleite de la gastronomía se funden en Sonidos y Sabores, una nueva propuesta cultural diseñada para estimular los sentidos.
“Se me ocurrió este proyecto para unir mi arte con otra de mis pasiones que es la gastronomía”, dice la artista ecuatoriana-estadounidense sobre la debilidad y el gusto que experimenta como una cocinera y comensal curiosa.
La idea es ofrecerle al público una experiencia irrepetible a través de una velada que integra un show musical, seguido de una cena de autor en espacios no convencionales.

Metro Ecuador - Cristina Morrison presenta una experiencia de sonidos y sabores en Quito

Cristina Morrison lanza la segunda fecha de su nueva producción, SONIDOS & SABORES en la cual la música, la gastronomía y el arte son los protagonistas.

Con la idea de crear una experiencia para los sentidos, su pasión por la cocina y su larga trayectoria sobre las tablas y el audiovisual, nos trae esta serie que lleva en forma de pop-ups a espacios únicos y a los cuales invita a chefs de gran nivel para complementar la música con el arte culinario y donde ella canta pero también tiene programado a otros artistas en el calendario.

Diario Expreso Ecuador - Frontal, cosmopolita, sensible y comprometida con las causas justas. Así es como siempre se ha percibido a la cantante y actriz Cristina Morrison, quien continúa en Quito viviendo su cuarentena junto a sus hijos. Durante este tiempo ha centrado su atención en el medioambiente y la situación que enfrentan muchos habitantes de la región Insular.

All About Jazz - Cristina Morrison Launches The First Edition Of The Galapagos Music Fest

Through music and art, Cristina will raise funds for the campaign #UNITEDFORGALAPAGOS. This campaign seeks to support the approximately 3,000 residents of the Galapagos Islands (10% of the population) that are in mainland Ecuador and cannot return to their homes. As a result of the health emergency, all flights to the islands were cancelled in mid March immediately before these residents could complete their travel home. At the moment, these residents are looking at a phased return program under established strict health control protocols.

Nuestra Tele Internacional - La iniciativa se llama “Todos por Galápagos”, así que los dineros recaudados en el festival irán a apoyar a los cerca de 3.000 residentes de las islas que se encuentran en Ecuador.

Entre los artistas participantes están aparte de Cristina, Nito Mestre Mirella Cesa, Bacilos, Alex Alvear, Héctor y Lucas Napolitano, Lena Burke, Omar Sosa, Joao Sabia, Nana Mendoza, Sofía Rey, Daniel Betancourth, María Tejada, Jhon Peter, Albert Castiglia, Alexandra Cabanilla, Techy Fatule, Elsten Torres, Misha Piatigorsky, Sin Residencia y muchos más.

Como podrán ver hay pop, jazz clásico, alternativo, blues, bossa, rock y otro gran número de sonidos maravillosos.

Ed Blanco, All About Jazz and Producer and Host at WDNA, 88.9FM, Miami - " On May 17th, 2019, Cristina Morrison, La Baronesa, shared the stage with three other female Latin vocalists and delivered a command performance voicing songs from her latest album, Impredicible. Accompanied by pianist extraordinaire Misha Piatigorsky and band, Morrison and her female guests mesmerized the audience with their powerful vocal instruments. Shinning the light on female voices from the Latin Music genre, Morrison joined forces with the likes of Warner Music Latin star Lena Burke in presenting beautiful music graced with emotion and a measure of class. La Baronesa proved that night that she is indeed, one superior songstress with much to offer, well done!"

Raul Da Gama, LatinJazzNet - This magical disc heralds a profound performance which is also highly illuminating. The starting point is a highly successful attempt to create vocal duets with five of the finest women vocalists of her generation. The performances by Miss Morrison aided by her duet partners are highly poignant; a touchstone to Miss Morrison’s burgeoning legacy as a vocalist; quite apart from her contribution to stage and film.

CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher, Midwest Record - CRISTINA MORRISON/Impredecible: The nice thing about being a gringo lost in Latin music land is that unless the track is something that's flying mallet obvious like "Besame Mucho", how would we know these are reimagings of Latin music high spots? What the naif hears is a smoking, swinging set that sounds like the party we want to hit away from the resort hotel. Proving it's new if it's new to you, this is grand outing that opens the ears to realms beyond the horizon well worth checking out. Solid throughout.

Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz - Vocalist Cristina Morrison is as worldly and well-traveled as they come. She was born in Miami and spent time living in Rome, Quito, the Galapagos Islands and Los Angeles before landing in the Big Apple...

Ximena Hidalgo-Ayala, Impacto Latino - Cristina Morrison, talento multifacético que une culturas.

Su talento escénico se pueden admirar en el cine, su creatividad y especial voz en sus discos y presentaciones. Todo fuertemente impregnado por el sabor y la pasión de sus raíces. Muy activa en el escenario neoyorquino en cine y música, es uno de los talentos latinos que expresa intensamente una vocación para construir, a través de su arte, puentes entre naciones y culturas. Cristina Morrison Mantilla, con su educación, talento y esfuerzo tiene una importante carrera artística internacional que promueve a Latinoamérica por el mundo.

El Comercio - Ecuador - Cristina Morrison: ‘Hay que dejar espacio para lo impredecible’

Gran parte de la vida de Cristina Morrison ha sucedido sobre los escenarios. Con su música y trabajo escénico -es actriz de teatro y cine-, se ha presentado en lugares como Miami, Nueva York, Quito y Galápagos, donde vivió durante los últimos meses.

¿Qué recuerda de su primer encuentro con Galápagos?
La primera vez que estuve en Galápagos fue en 1993. Después de graduarme de la Escuela de Teatro en Los Ángeles regresé al país para grabar el documental dramatizado ‘El Diablo en el Paraíso’, en el que interpreté a la Baronesa. Fue un encuentro mágico. Desde el primer momento me enamoré de ese paisaje agreste, medio desértico, de aguas turquesas y energía volcánica. Sentí que mi alma vibraba con el lugar y que en algún momento tenía que ir a vivir allá. Años más tarde eso sucedió así; terminé casándome y criando a mis hijos en las islas Galápagos.

¿Hay alguna relación entre los paisajes de Galápagos y su trabajo de creación musical?

Cuando fui a vivir a Galápagos me conecté con el silencio. Descubrir el silencio para mí fue algo importante porque me encontré conmigo misma y con mi yo interior. Ese proceso de aprender a escucharme me inspiró para escribir canciones. Muchas de las letras que están en mis discos las escribí en Galápagos. Es gracias a esa conexión con la tierra, con la naturaleza y con la espiritualidad que he escrito muchas de mis canciones y he realizado varios de mis mejores trabajos de composición.

¿Quién le puso el mote de La Baronesa? ¿Fue por el documental?

El culpable de ese nombre es Héctor Napolitano. El ‘Napo’ es número uno para poner apodos. En 1998 fui a vivir a Galápagos y nos hicimos vecinos. Con él, Christian Idrobo y Ángel Cobo formamos La Baronesa y sus amantes; el nombre también lo puso el ‘Napo’. En ese tiempo no había una movida musical en Galápagos.

¿Cómo se conectó con el jazz?

Me conecté con el jazz a través de mi padre, un estadounidense de la vieja guardia al que le gustaba escuchar a todos los clásicos. Me acuerdo que en su carro siempre sonaba jazz. Luego esa conexión se hizo más fuerte gracias a amigos como Esteban Molina. Me considero más una actriz porque es lo que estudié, pero la música siempre estuvo ahí dando vueltas y ese deseo de cantar se ha mantenido con el paso del tiempo.

TRIBECA FILM FEST - Frédéric Boyer - In a moving depiction of this vibrant city, director Julia Solomonoff’s touching feature presents a portrait of immigrant solitude. Nico faces the difficulty of finding not only a home, but himself amidst the indifferent metropolis. Nobody’s Watching questions how we adjust when we lose our audience.

New York Times - Glenn Kenny - "Nobody's Watching" addresses immigration issues head on, but it's more about being set existentially adrift.
Humiliations follow, including an encounter with an arrogant American film insider who bluntly tells Nico to darken his hair — his blond hair doesn’t exude stereotypical Latino vibes. His friendships suffer — the mother of the child he babysits for takes umbrage when he chats up a potential professional connection at her yoga class — as does his self-esteem after a fraught visit from a mentor who’s also a former lover.

Ms. Solomonoff, an Argentine filmmaker based in New York, doesn’t fail to include scenes of stranger-in-a-strange-land exhilaration. This movie is as attached to our town as it is to Nico, even if Nico might not be destined to stay.

Stage and Cinema - DMITRY ZVONKOV - With a solid script by Ms. Solomonoff and Christina Lazaridi, Nobody’s Watching is an understated film made in the style of observational realism so common to indie fare of the past decade. But whereas many such movies use silence, passivity and ambiguity to disguise a lack of insight and direction, Ms. Solomonoff leads us confidently along with intelligence and compassion. The plot moves. The actors deliver convincing portrayals.

Raul Gama, LatinJazzNet - "Part biographical, perhaps even part autobiographical and all adventure, Baronesa by the ineffable chanteuse Cristina Morrison is an amorous masterpiece. Ms. Morrison’s dark and smoky voice is so perfect for this kind of musical setting. Stories of seduction, of mesmerising beauty and of strange and beautiful musical topographies just seem to fall into place with the utterly irresistible voice that is led by – and sometimes plays off – the tantalising lines that unfold in the pianism of Misha Piatigorsky. The musicianship of both is characterised by its directness, the sonic purity of its gestures."

Midwest Record - "Morrison's back story makes her sound like some globe trotting gal in a 50s movie and you wonder how she has the time and energy to do it all. Focusing on this record, she turns Brazilian jazz on it's head with this mostly original set. Calling on her experience as an actress to give the tunes that something else extra and calling on her linguistic versatility to keep things on the move, this might as well be the template for future after hour jazz for millenials. As smoking a set as she is, this is hot stuff on a futuristic tip that can be enjoyed in the hear and now."

Gustavo CARVAJAL [ Idea Catalyst ] - Affectionately known as the Baroness of Jazz, Cristina Morrison’s second album, appropriately called Baronesa, draws upon her life experiences – featuring songs in four different languages (English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese) with a diverse mix of music styles – jazz, tango, cha cha, drum & bass, bolero and even spoken word. The songs blend her skills as an actress and a singer and tell stories about her life, her friends and the Galapagos Islands. Cristina is deeply committed to contributing to the environmental and social conscience of Galapagos children. She supports an educational arts program called Arteducarte in all the public schools of Isabela. A portion of the proceeds from her records sales helps sustain the program yearly.

#MarcelaÁlvarez El Diario Nueva York - “...artista sutil, de entornos íntimos, versátil, políglota, aventurera. Como actriz ha trabajado en cine, teatro y televisión; con su otra pasión, la música, suma dos álbums, una banda y exitosas presentaciones en Ecuador, Miami y Nueva York.”

EDWARD BLANCO |AllAboutJazz.com - The most ambitious piece of the album is the varied "Spanish Dreamland Inquisition" featuring the vocalist with some spoken words, back grounds vocals and seemingly folk song atmosphere and texture to the piece. The title tune comes across like a lively, even funky-styled song at times with Morrison singing the lyrics in both English and Spanish. The album concludes with the very humbling "Light or Dark" returning the Baronesa to the more subtle and softer landscape with which she is so familiar singing the finale with a lot of soul and expression.

Providing another session of magical moments, Cristina Morrison's creative and genre-blending Baronesa showcases a superb vocal instrument in a tasteful collaboration with pianist Piatigorsky, and features cast of world-class players who interpret a set of world-styled music with grace.

Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower - This CD is a tribute to Baronesa, a European woman who arrived in the Galapagos Islands during the late 1920’s and was soon embroiled in a drama of lovers. Cristina Morrison, actor, singer, lyricist, educator, and environmental-social activist, appeared in a docudrama about Baronesa, in the 1990’s. She has created this new album as an homage to Ecuador and the Galapagos. My own past travels in Ecuador and the Galapagos were evoked in the listening experience. This album presents eleven tracks, eight of which are original, with the remaining three “Cry Me a River”, “Corcovado”, and “Nuestro Juramento”. The original tracks are composed by Misha Piatigorsky, with Ms. Morrison’s lyrics. Among the impressive instrumental ensemble collaborating on this album, whom I have reviewed on these pages, are Victor Prieto on accordion, Joel Frahm on saxophones, Tatum Greenblatt on trumpet, and Misha Piatigorsky, composer and pianist. The additional collaborators are well chosen for the multicultural, musical genre, so inherent in the remarkable tunes.

Dan Bilawsky - allaboutjazz.com - Vocalist Cristina Morrison is as worldly and well-traveled as they come. She was born in Miami and spent time living in Rome, Quito, the Galapagos Islands and Los Angeles before landing in the Big Apple, from whence she recorded this fine debut. Morrison possesses a voice that's alternately soothing, sassy, straightforward or sly, and she brings it to bear on a diverse array of original and oft-covered offerings.

Edward Blanco - Ejazznews - Gifted with a beautiful voice, this new lady of jazz makes quite a splash on I Love, a debut recording capturing a graceful performance stylishly announcing her entrance into the world of jazz music

Brent Black - Critical Jazz - A first call selection of some of the Big Apple's finest push Morrison to discover her own keen sense of melodic feel and develop the true potential of her own engaging lyrics which while deceptively subtle are at times rather cinematic in scope. I Love is a pristine recording designed to touch the listener both the visceral and cerebral levels and this may be where the true success and individuality of the artist are born. Morrison is the real deal bringing together a nice package with musical chops to spare. An incredibly entertaining and adventurous tour de force that gives up a little something new with each subsequent spin of the disc. A real winner that leaves the listener longing for more!

Midwest Record by CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher - Morrison is down with the concept of old school dames but she has a pomo sensibility all the way. Probably hiding a restless artist behind a cool façade, Morrison ditches her last persona but doesn’t leave it too far behind as crime jazz mixes with after hours mixes with just about everything else that could be smoky. A cinematic musical experience, this almost a nu kind of cabaret in the making.

El Debate - Mexico - "The Aging of the Plum" delivered an emotional performance at the Angela Peralta Theatre. Cristina Morrison and Rossana Iturralde gave a master class in acting through their portrayal of various characters.

El Noroeste - Mexico - Cristina Morrison and Rossana Iturralde delivered a remarkable performance in the staging of "The Aging of the Plum". They were chameleonic as they took the audience to meet a family of nine women that emerged through Celina's and Eleonora's memories. The actresses who joined the International Theatre Festival of Mazatlan 2011 achieved an immediate connection with the audience who quickly caught on with the plot. The actresses did not need makeup, change of scenery or costumes to come before the audience as little girls or mature women.

El Hoy - As the story unfolds the actress takes charge of her role and reaches moments of great lucidity. She surrenders to this ambiguous character who is caught between candid, alienation, and aloofness.

Tiempos Del Mundo - Quality theatre. Morrison gives way in her monologue.

El Comercio - Morrison confronts marginality. “She’s an actress that goes deep into everything she faces. Her characterizations are natural, a courageous staging”

Coral Gables Gazette - Six capable women, notable among them was Cristina Morrison who undergoes a tremendous range of emotions. It’s easy to go too far with the outbursts, but Morrison is restrained and talented so as to make us feel for Petra without too many histrionics.

El Universo - The main actors were well cast. Cristina Morrison dominates the scenes where she performs.

El Comercio - Their stage presence, rhythm, and improvisation took over the audience.

El Universo - Morrison was the voice at the "Blues Anthology Concert" in the Ecuadorian-American Center in Guayaquil.

El Comercio - Galapagos, it's history and it's fiction. Cristina Morrison's pitch on acting complements this docudrama.