The New York Andalus Ensemble in the City of the World 5 November 2013: Several members of the New York Andalus Ensemble, one of the Foundation’s ensembles in residence, will perform this year in the City of the World series. The musicians will accompany Hazzan Yohai Cohen, who will perform piyyutim (sacred poetry) from the Middle East and Northern Africa. Samuel R. Thomas, director for the New York Andalus Ensemble, is curating the event. For more information, click here.
New York Andalus Ensemble Performance 3 December 2013: The New York Andalus Ensemble will soon be performing in concert at the Elebash Recital Hall. Directed by Samuel Thomas, this multilingual group (they sing in Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, and Ladino) is known for their skillful performances of music from the Iberian Peninsula, as well as Northern Africa. The concert will begin at 7:30pm. Tickets are on sail now. Click here to buy online, and here for the facebook event. For more information about the ensemble, see their website, or check out their facebook page.
The Creative Pulse: A Conversation with Philip Glass 15 October 2013: The Fall 2013 Music in 21st-Century Society lecture will feature composer Philip Glass discussing his music and how the process of artistic collaboration with exceptionally creative minds (including Robert Wilson, Allen Ginsberg, Ravi Shankar, and Godfrey Reggio, among many others) has shaped his musical output. These artistic partnerships have undoubtedly had an impact on New York’s cultural landscape and, in the process, have contributed noticeably to the creative economy of the city. Glass will be in conversation with MacArthur Prize-winning flutist Claire Chase, director of the International Contemporary Ensemble, who will also perform. More here.
Displacing the Voice: Popular Music in Spanish Cinema 4 April 2014: The Foundation for Iberian Music at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York is proud to sponsor the first international conference focused on the Spanish cinematic soundscape. From the 1990s onwards the aural dimension of cinema has become an established field of research, but it has not been until much recently that scholars have started paying attention to how Spanish cinema sounds and how sound articulates the representation and negotiation of wider social-historical phenomena. This conference aims to bring together film and music scholars and hispanists to foster and consolidate sound as a field of inquiry within Spanish film scholarship and film as a privileged site to understand how music means and matters for Spanish society. The conference will take place in April 2014 at the CUNY Graduate Center, New York. Click here for the program, and here for the abstracts of the presenters. More information on the presenters can be found here.
Encuentros/Encounters 2014: New York Andalus Ensemble Performance 27 February 2013: The Foundation for Iberian Music’s artist-in-residence the New York Andalus Ensemble will perform on February 27, 2013 at 8pm in Elebash Recital Hall. During the New York portion of Encuentros 2014, the Graduate Center will host a session titled “Hispano-Arabic Music and Poetry.” Participants will include Benjamin Liu, Dwight Reynolds, and Carl Davila. After the panel session, the performance by the New York Andalus Ensemble will close the conference. “Hispano-Arabic Music and Poetry” – 4-6pm, Skylight Room New York Andalus Ensemble – 8pm, Elebash Recital Hall Encuentros 2014 Thursday, February 27, 2013 The Graduate Center 365 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10016
El Amor Brujo: Performance and Colloquium 22-23 March 2014: The Artist-in-Residence of the Foundation for Iberian Music, Perspectives Ensemble and conductor Ángel Gil-Ordóñez will present with Peridance Contemporary Dance Company the ballet El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla. The ballet will be performed consecutively on Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23. On the morning of that Sunday, there will also be a round-table discussion on de Falla’s music and choreography. Participants will include the writer Antonio Muñoz Molina, Perspectives Ensemble choreographer Igal Perry, and the Foundation’s director Antoni Pizà.
Upcoming Concerts: New York Andalus Ensemble 19 July 2013: This Fall the New York Andalus Ensemble will perform two concerts at the Graduate Center’s Elebash Recital Hall and Proshansky Auditorium. The first performance will be on November 5 in Elebash and is part of the Graduate Center’s Public Program concert series City of the World. The ensemble will be accompanying cantors in the Sephardic (Spanish) traditions of Hebrew music from the Levant and North Africa. The second performance on December 17 will be in Proshansky Auditorium and is the ensemble’s seasonal show. More information to follow.
New Performances of “Songs of the Infinite” 8 October 2013: The Foundation for Iberian Music’s Composer’s Commission 2010 “Songs of the Infinite” by Miguel A. Roig-Francolí will be performed in a free concert at Werner Recital Hall at the University of Cincinnati on October 8. “Songs of the Infinite” first premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2010 and continues to receive positive reviews. The next New York performance of this piece will be at Carnegie Hall on November 17 for the 60th Anniversary of Roig-Francolí.
An Evening of Zarzuela: Federico Moreno Torroba 11 November 2013: The Foundation for Iberian Music is hosting a book presentation and reception for Walter Aaron Clark and William Craig Krause’s new publication Federico Moreno Torroba: A Musical Life in Three Acts (Oxford University Press, 2013). This book is part of Oxford’s series, “Current Trends in Latin American and Iberian Music,” also edited by Walter A. Clark. Monday, November 11, 2013 6:30pm Skylight Room The Graduate Center 365 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10016 After a brief introduction by Antoni Pizà, authors Walter A. Clark and William Krause, and Professor Javier Albo will discuss the book and music of Moreno Torroba. The round table discussion will be followed by a performance. Anna Tonna, mezzo-soprano, and Pablo Zinger, piano, will perform arias from selected zarzuelas by Moreno Torroba. A reception will follow.