For Heloísa Fernandes the year 2024 began with a strong desire to create new material for her new musical family -- the quartet -- so that it could tell the story of an important moment in her life. An invitation in 2023 to perform solo in Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas, brought Fernandes to the Amazon for the first time though she has lived in Brazil her entire life. The immensity and beauty of the forest and its many rivers were transformative and impetus to tell a musical story inspired by the Amazon. "A few months after I began working on the compositions," she remembers, "I had a dream in which I threw myself into the waters of a rushing river and felt everything perfectly, as if I was actually in it -- the temperature, the movement of the water, the river carrying me, the surroundings with the forest -- in short , the entire environment and its sensations. I woke up happy and absolutely convinced that I was on the right track.

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Some of the works are still waiting for Fernandes to give them titles. Those that have been named are Oferenda ao Rio Amazonas (Offering to the Amazon River), Depois da chula (After the Rain), Lago do Amanã (Lake Amanã), Tempos dos songs (Time of Dreams), and Silêncio nos oleos (Silence in the Eyes). Fernandes will announce the works from the stage.

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"The story we are telling with this quartet today," she says, "is a reflection and also a cry to the world about the importance of the Amazon for the planet, as a source of life and the need for its preservation. I hope that we can achieve our goal, to honor the Amazon through music, awakening people's senses so that they feel and think about the importance of life."