Cristina Pato to Serve as 2019-2020 King Juan Carlos Chair of Spanish Culture And Civilization at NYU

The King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center announced Cristina Pato, Galician bagpiper, musician, writer, producer, and educator, will serve as King Juan Carlos Chair for the 2019-2020 academic year at New York University. Dr. Pato will be organizing and hosting a series of public events at the KJCC in the Fall of 2019. In the Spring of 2020, she will be teaching an interdisciplinary music and culture course titled “The Invisible Music of Northern Spain” during her teaching residency at NYU.

The King Juan Carlos I Chair Of Spanish Culture And Civilization was established in 1983, and since then it has allowed NYU to bring to campus each year an eminent specialist in the history, politics, economics, or culture of Spain, to offer courses and lectures, and to carry out their own research. Cristina Pato is the first musician to serve as King Juan Carlos Chair at New York University.

The first lecture performance took place on September 26 where Cristina Pato shared her artistic journey, forging a multifaceted career as an internationally acclaimed Galician bagpiper master, classical pianist, producer and educator. Without a precedent to follow, and in a world where “nobody needs a bagpiper,” she charted her own path to become an independent artist and became passionate about exploring the role of the arts in other contexts, especially education. She shared how she has made herself relevant to other disciplines and, in doing so, built a sustainable career. Other lecture dates and topics include:

October 17, 2019
An Invisible Ancestry and the Unquiet Genes of the Brain
with Kenneth S. Kosik, Harriman Professor of Neuroscience Research

November 14, 2019
Afro Latin Perspectives in Jazz and Classical Music
with Afa S. Dworkin, President and Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization, and Arturo O’Farrill, Founder and Artistic Director of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance

December 5, 2019
Bilingual Societies and Sustainablity: Spain’s Other Languages
a round table and recital with Francisco Castro, Managing Director of Editorial Galaxia (Galicia, Spain); Rosa Rey, Director of Angle Editorial and Capital Books (Catalunya, Spain); and Lorea Agirre, Director of Jakin Magazine (Basque Country, Spain)

Learn more and watch video.