What's in a name? In Rio de Janeiro you might be surprised. Cecília Afonsopena was born in Rio de Janeiro, but her family roots extend well into the country's interior and into the early days of the First Republic. A great grand-daughter of the Brazilian President Alfonso Pena, Cecília is a true "carioca da gema" who cut a swath in New York City in the 1970s. www.thecariorker.com

A man remembers a conversation he had many years ago on the terrace of the Theatre of São Pedro de Alcântara between acts of a play, which he doesn't remember nearly as well as the incident of his friend's story about guilt, justice, conscience, and getting filthy rich. (from Suje-se Gordo! by Machado de Assis, translation, performance and violão by Todd Conner) SFX credit to freesfx.co.uk

Aging musical conductor Master Roman Pires is loved and respected by all -- a local celebrity, in fact. And yet, his dream has always been to compose. Confined at home during a sudden illness, he finds a burst of energy to compose the one simple melody that will be the fulfillment of his life. A kind of "Eleanor Rigby" in prose, this story is a invocation to the compassion so important in times like these -- indeed, in any time. Every life is a complex story never quite heard, not a number. Singer-songwriter Janeen Rae Heller was commissioned to provide the musical arrangement for this episode and brings us a startling performance of another musical composition by the incomparable Chiquinha Gonzaga. Visit Janeen on Facebook. Cantiga de Esponsais by Machado de Assis translated and told by Todd Conner

Macedo is an ornithologist (a scientist in the study of birds) who stumbles, literally, one day into a gloomy junk shop to discover a canary in a dilapidated cage. Amid the flotsam and jetsum on a sea of junk, he sees the canary as a ray of sunlight playing in the darkness. When he discovers other extraordinary avian properties, he immediately purchases the bird and is stricken with Canary on the Brain. "Tico-Tico no Fubá" for this episode is played by jazz pianist Carlo Penza.  

The perfect conclusion to The Cariorker's Lenten triptyche of stories leading up to Easter. Machado has set this tale of redemption and resurrection in one of Rio de Janeiro's most historic churches. Love transforms, but sometimes in the strangest of ways.

In this second of a triptych of stories on Biblical and ecclesiastic themes for the Lenten season, we join the Devil on his mission to start his own church on earth. Based on an old Benedictine manuscript Machado's manuscript takes us from Hell to Heaven, to earth, around the globe, and back again on a pendulum ride between Good and Evil.

In observance of the Lenten season, this is the first of three stories on Biblical and ecclesiastic themes, all of an unmistakably "Machadian" bent.  On this rare excursion to Bahia, far from the city limits of his own beloved Rio, Machado takes us to a dinner table conversation in the verdant 18th century northeast when Cana (sugar) was the "fruit" of note in the Brazilian paradise. "Adam and Eve" is sponsored by Brazil Ahead and American Ways and Language located in midtown Manhattan, offering curriculums at all levels for language learning and cultural mastery for both the U.S. and Brazil. Visit americanwaysny.com & brazilahead.com

When the young lawyer, Honório, finds a wallet full of money on Assembly Street in Rio, we accompany him through the interior of the city during his own interior struggle of conscience.  (From "A Carteira," by Machado de Assis, translation from Portuguese and with Violão by Todd Conner)

A young seminarian escapes a monastery, seeking protection from his father's retribution while at the home of his godfather's sweetheart. Over the course of a harrowing afternoon, it becomes clear through Machado's extraordinary storytelling who the soul of the young man really belongs to. (From "O Caso da Vara," by Machado de Assis, translation from Portuguese and Violão by Todd Conner)

When a young wife demands that her husband stop wearing a hat beneath his station, his humiliating refusal causes her to rebel on the town with a more promiscuous married girlfriend. (Translated from Portuguese by Todd Conner; interpretation of "Saudade" commissioned for podcast & donated by Anonymous, who retains all rights). Chapter of the Hats was recorded at The Players Club in New York City on January 16, 2020 in the company of the following generous people: Grace Baresich, Daniela Blini, João Guimarães, Christopher O'Rourke, and Carolina Paz