“Amália in America – Beyond Fado”, under the musical direction of maestro Jan Wierzba, will take place at Carnegie Hall in New York and will feature the same program as the show held last year at the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon.

The show recreates the performances of Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999) in the United States, in which, in addition to fado, she included traditional Portuguese songs, marches and songs from the “Great American Songbook”.

“Amália played a crucial role in the consecration of fado in Portuguese culture and its universality. She is a true symbol of our traditional music and this is a fitting tribute to the legacy she leaves us,” musicologist Rui Vieira Nery told Lusa last year.

Amália began performing in the United States in 1952, at the La Vie en Rose nightclub in New York, whose line up also included Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich. Amália’s performances in America continued at the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and on television.

In 1966, she was a soloist in symphonic concerts with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, performing traditional Portuguese songs and fado, and “receiving great acclaim,” Vieira Nery said.

Last year, in a statement, the president of the board of directors of the Organismo de Produção Artística (Opart), which oversees the OSP, stated that “this is an ambitious project, bringing together several leading institutions, which is built on the foundations of one of the leading names in Portuguese culture in the 20th century.”

“The remarkable legacy of Amália Rodrigues is reinforced and renewed in our time, through the recreation of orchestral arrangements that will allow the OSP, also an ambassador of our cultural identity, to establish itself as an interlocutor in this confluence between fado, classical music and Broadway classics,” said Conceição Amaral, president of Opart.

Referring to the show in New York, the organization states that “more than a tribute to the fado diva, it is an act of internationalization of Portuguese culture, with Amália Rodrigues as its greatest ambassador.”