Quinteto Contrapunto was a celebrated Venezuelan vocal quintet which reached nation-wide and international celebrity in the early 1960s, and was very active for about a decade.
The idea of "Contrapunto" was conceived after its founder, composer and conductor Rafael Suárez, returned to Venezuela after following advanced music studies in Italy. While studying at Academia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Suárez met another venezuelan musician, Domingo Mendoza (former singer in the choir of the Central University of Venezuela), in Rome and wrote a series of arrangements for two voices of Venezuelan folk pieces that both Suárez and Mendoza used to perform together.
Mendoza was charmed by the arrangements, but suggested that instead of two voices, they should include the complete range of five voices: mezzosoprano, baritone, bass, soprano and tenor. Following this idea, in 1962, the Quinteto Contrapunto was born, with baritone Rafael Suárez as conductor, arranger, and cuatro executant, tenor Jesús Sevillano, mezzosopranos Morella Muñoz and Aida Navarro, and Domingo Mendoza, Bass voice.
In the span of a few months, the group became hugely successful. By 1962 they had sold 50,000 copies of their first album “Quinteto Contrapunto Vol. 1”. Their style, unique at the time, fused popular music with the methodology and treatment of academic music. Also, it was uncommon in Venezuela to have "formal" concerts of folk music at the time. However, this was no obstacle for the group, and soon they were widely known in Latin America and Europe.
After the death of Rafael Suárez in 1971, the Quinteto Contrapunto disbanded and did not reappear until 1998, when Jesús Sevillano promoted a reunion (Mezzo Morella Muñoz had also died in 1995) to celebrate his 40th anniversary of his career as a singer. The new quintet was comprised by Jesús Sevillano (tenor), Otilia Rodriguez (mezzosoprano), Efraín Arteaga (Bass, conductor, and arranger), Marina Auristela Guanche (soprano) and Parmenio Talavera (baritone, guitar and cuatro performer). The reappearance was supported with the launch of a double album, Quinteto Contrapunto. Música Popular y Folklórica de Venezuela. This release contained most of the songs recorded by the original group. In 2003, they released Lo Máximo, 22 Éxitos - Quinteto Contrapunto, a new compilation of the best songs of the group. This last attempt to reunite didn't last too long due to the different career compromises of some of its members.