Ávila is named after the beautiful and iconic mountains that surround my native city of Caracas. The Ávila has inspired many artists for centuries with its quiet grandeur . The mountains are the city's lungs and provide the inhabitants of Caracas with many emblematic vistas. As millions of Venezuelans have had to flee the country amidst the ongoing crisis, the Ávila has remained a potent symbol for all caraqueños, who look at pictures of the city among the mountains with a mixture of nostalgia, sadness, and reverence.

This work is an homage to my home city , inspired by the precious valses by fellow Venezuelan composer and guitarrist Antonio Lauro. His elegant waltzes and lively merengues themselves are nostalgic pieces that look back to the Caracas's earlier glory days during the 20s and 30s. Ávila combines the quirky rhythms of the

Caraquenian merengue— in its infectious 5/8 meter— with the quiet and expressive vals in the middle section.

A kind of "postcard of a postcard,” Ávila is a nostalgic look through a musical city rich with history, vivaciousness, and yearning.