A unique concert by the critically acclaimed Toomai String Quintet, an ensemble devoted to performing music from the classical and contemporary repertoire, while exploring and arranging music from around the world. The concert will feature premieres by three of today’s most outstanding Cuban composers Yosvany Terry, Keyla Orozco, and Adonis González-Matos.
AMERICAS SOCIETY
680 Park Ave.
(& 68th Street), NYC
FREE ADMISSION
PLEASE REGISTER ONLINE PRIOR TO THE CONCERT AT: https://shorturl.at/hinzQ
[Image above: A cicada from the genus Magicicada, a visual reference to Keyla Orozco’s composition El Canto de la Cigarra — Credit: Computer Hoy]
PROGRAM
Composers:
- Yosvany Terry: New Work (WP)
- Keyla Orozco: El Canto de la Cigarra (WP), for narrator and String Quintet*
- Adonis Gonzalez-Matos: Conga santiaguera (NYP), for String Quintet
Interlude (NYP), for piano and String Quintet
*Narration will be recited in Spanish by María Brea, with a written English translation provided in the program.
Musicians:
- Emilie-Anne Gendron and Alex Fortes, violins
- George Meyer, viola
- Hamilton Berry, cello
- Andrew Roitstein, bass
- Adonis González, piano
The Toomai String Quintet plays a variety of musical traditions, creating its own string arrangements, and commissioning new works. The award-winning group has been engaging audiences across the United States for over a decade, performing concerts in collaboration with presenters such as Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, and the Juilliard School, among others.
Central to Toomai’s mission is the expansion of the Latin American repertoire for string ensemble. Toomai has arranged or commissioned over 20 works by Latin American composers. The ensemble also facilitates educational workshops that teach young people creative approaches to music through the lens of Cuban and Brazilian traditions. In 2018, Toomai released its debut album, Cuerdas Cubanas; in 2024, the group will release a new album of Brazilian music, Passos Brasileiros.
Formed in 2007 at the Juilliard School, the quintet is named after Rudyard Kipling’s short story “Toomai of the Elephants” in which a young boy journeys into the jungle to witness the dance of the wild elephants. The Toomai String Quintet aspires to cultivate a similar sense of curiosity and discovery by searching for diverse music and sharing it with its audience. The quintet members are violinists Emilie-Anne Gendron and Alex Fortes, violist George Meyer, cellist Hamilton Berry, and bassist Andrew Roitstein.
This concert is presented in collaboration with Americas Society
And is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and made possible by the New YorkState Council on the Arts and the New YorkState Legislature.
With the promotional cooperation of
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