Beyond Sorrow: Rethinking Flamenco for the 21st Century (Round table) NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (KJCC) will be hosting a round table discussion on flamenco on March 9th at 6:30 pm. The panel will include K. Meira Goldberg, a flamenco dancer and scholar who is a visiting scholar for the 2015-16 academic year at the Foundation for Iberian Music. Other participants include Marina Heredia (Flamenco Festival New York), Paloma McGregor (Angela’s Pulse, Dancing While Black), Josefina Saldaña-Portillo (NYU Department of Social and Cultural Analysis), and Sebastian Calderón Bentin (NYU Tisch School of the Arts). Description of the panel’s focus, from the KJCC’s website: Historically, flamenco artistry was generated as a dazzling, resistant response to the discrimination and poverty endured by the Roma of Spain and other marginalized communities in Andalusia. Today, flamenco is marked not only by its inheritance of loss and art but by the multiple forces of culture, diaspora, identity, politics, and market. This panel asks questions to reframe the life and futures of flamenco. We will consider how contemporary flamenco artists negotiate the fine line between embracing an artistic inheritance and breaking free of stereotype. Can flamenco survive in the fullness of its profound and deep expression without being boxed in by obligatory sorrow and suffering? What will the new sources of inspiration be for the generations of artists who have not known the suffering of their ancestors? How does flamenco’s evolution in the context of globalized 21st century culture reflect changing ideas about gender and race? How do today’s artists beat a path to the future, finding new and authentic creative impetus? This panel discussion is a part of Flamenco Festival NY. A reception will follow. 6:30 pm, March 9 King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center 53 Washington Square South New York, NY. USA 10012 Tel: (212) 998-3650
Seminar with composer Benet Casablancas, March 8 Composer and long-time collaborator with the Foundation for Iberian Music, Benet Casablancas, will be holding a guest seminar at the CUNY Graduate Center on March 8th at 10 am, in room 3492. In this seminar, he will discuss his own compositions, focusing on the works that he has written for New York City: for the Miller Theater, for the Morgan Library and Museum, and for the Foundation for Iberian Music. Graduate Center composition students and faculty have been invited to attend this special seminar, but the public is welcome. Both composers and Spanish music scholars and enthusiasts alike should not miss this opportunity to discuss composition with one of Spain’s most celebrated living composers! (Non CUNY guests must sign in at the front desk, so please be sure to bring a government-issued ID.) This seminar is in advance of Casablancas’ upcoming world premiere on March 10, his latest commission for the Foundation for Iberian Music, Romanza sin palabras: Homage to Granados. The concert will be at 7 pm in the Elebash Recital Hall at the Graduate Center. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended. See post for full program and details. 10 am, March 8 The Graduate Center 365 Fifth Ave Room 3492 NY, NY 10016
The Life and Music of Enrique Granados: International Conference On March 10, 2016, the Foundation for Iberian Music will host an international conference, The Life and Music of Enrique Granados (1867-1916): A Centennial Celebration, in the Skylight Room (9100) of CUNY’s Graduate Center. Walter Aaron Clark (author of Enrique Granados: Poet of the Piano) will be the keynote speaker. Presenters include: Francesc Cortès, José María Curbelo González, Óliver Curbelo, Carolina Estrada, Adam Kent, Ariadna Martín Alfaro, Cristina Martín, John Milton, Mary Ann Newman, Mònica Pagès, Anna de la Paz, Miriam Perandones, Antoni Pizà, Mario Quijano, Douglas Riva, Anna Tonna, and Ricardo de la Torre. The conference will conclude with a screening of Enrique Granados: A Musical Portrait by director Stephen Halpern. Click here to view the full program and abstracts. The conference is free and open to the public. No registration is required. Directly following the conference will be a concert of Grandos’ works with pianist Douglas Riva and Perspectives Ensemble (in residence at the Foundation), featuring the world premiere of Benet Casablancas’ Romanza Sin Palabras: Homage to Granados. The concert is free; reservations are recommended. Click here for program and full details.
From Barcelona with Passion: Enrique Granados in New York (Concert) Perspectives Ensemble (artist in residence at the Foundation for Iberian Music) will be joined by conductor Ángel Gil-Ordoñez, pianist Douglas Riva and dancer Anna de la Paz to present a program of works by Enrique Granados and the world premiere of Benet Casablancas’s new work, Romanza sin palabras: Homage to Granados. Program Barcarola (Barcarolle), DLR V:4 Vals de concierto (Concert Waltz), DLR VII:9 Douglas Riva, piano Trio, C Major (1895) Poco allegro, con espressione Scherzo, vivace molto Duetto, andante con molta espressione Finale, allegro molto Benet Casablancas (b. 1956), Romanza sin Palabras (Homage to Granados) WORLD PREMIERE Danza de los Ojos Verdes (Dance for Green Eyes) with Anna de la Paz, classical Spanish dance Elisenda El jardín de Elisenda (Elisenda’s Garden) Trova Elisenda PERSPECTIVES ENSEMBLE Ángel Gil-Ordoñez, Conductor Sato Moughalian, Artistic Director Perspectives Ensemble is generously supported by the Danièle Doctorow Prize for Music and the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation. The concert closes the celebration’s international conference, “The Life and Music of Enrique Granados (1867-1916): A Centennial Celebration.” Admission is free, but reservations are recommended. 7 pm, March 10 Ticket Reservations Elebash Recital Hall CUNY Graduate Center 365 5th Ave NY, NY 10016
And Now, a Word from Our Sponsors Organizing our yearlong Granados centenary festival, A Granados Celebration, is a massive international undertaking. In addition to the hard work of all our committee, the festival events would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. The Granados Celebration directors, Douglas Riva and Antoni Pizà, would like to take a moment to extend their gratitude to all of the organizations co-sponsoring festival events: The Foundation for Iberian Music’s parent organizations, which include the City University of New York, the Barry S. Brook Center, the Graduate Center’s PhD and DMA programs in music, as well as:
New Networking and Resource Site for Spanish Music Scholars We would like to invite Spanish music scholars and students to join the networking community Iberia Classics. Iberia Classics is a new non-profit network organized by scholars in the Iberian music community. The purpose of the network is to provide a platform for discussion and means for scholars to share their research and activities. Membership is free. To join Iberia Classics, please contact Carolina Estrada at carolina.pianist@gmail.com with your CV, a profile photo, and the e-mail address that you would like to display on your profile. Iberia Classics is a new project and the website is under construction. Join now and help the community to grow!
Benet Casablancas Premiere March 10, Now a Part of Flamenco Festival NY The international Flamenco Festival has joined with the Foundation for Iberian Music’s ongoing Granados Celebration for a world premiere concert event on March 10, 2016. The Flamenco Festival has been called “one of New York City’s most important events” by Newsday. It features Hispanic musicians and dancers from all over the world, in addition to the ever evolving tradition of flamenco. For this concert, Perspectives Ensemble (artist in residence at the Foundation for Iberian Music), under director Ángel Gil-Ordoñez, will be joined by Spanish dancer Anna de la Paz. The concert program will showcase works by Enrique Granados, but the highlight is sure to be the world premiere of Benet Casablancas’s new work, Romanza sin palabras: Homage to Granados. The concert closes the celebration’s international conference, “The Life and Music of Enrique Granados (1867-1916): A Centennial Celebration.” It is free and open to the public. 7 pm, March 10 Elebash Recital Hall CUNY Graduate Center 365 5th Ave NY, NY 10016
Videos of Recent Early Music Workshops Last month, the Foundation for Iberian Music hosted a series of early music workshops, in collaboration with the New York Early Music Celebration. We have video of three of these workshops available online, so if you were unable to attend or you would like to review them, please look at our YouTube channel! Click below for individual videos: Master Class with Tembembe Ensamble Continuo Lecture and Performance with La Fontegara “Rethinking Bach’s Violin Ciaconna:” master class with Raymond Erickson (link goes to Prof. Erickson’s youtube channel, which now features an updated series of videos of the same lecture, given on another date)
Cristóbal Soler Joining the Granados Celebration Advisory Committee Cristóbal Soler is Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Teatro de la Zarzuela (National Lyric Theater), Madrid, Principal Guest Conductor and Associate Director of the Navarra Symphony Orchestra, and Chairman of the AESDO, Spanish Association of Conductors. Considered one of the most important conductors of his generation, Soler has established a successful career conducting extensive symphonic repertoire and opera productions. He has received many accolades for Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosí fan tutte, La Traviata, Rigoletto, L´elisir d´amore, Don Pascuale, La Sonambula, Carmen, Lalo´s Le Roi d’Ýs, Gounod´s Mireille, La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein, Werther, and Aida, among others. His repertory of zarzuelas reveals Maestro Soler as one of today’s best ambassadors of Spanish Music. He has conducted many Spanish zarzuelas titles such as Los diamantes de la corona (International Opera Awards 2015 nominee), El Gato Montés (Teatro Campoamor Lyrical Award for best lyrical production), El barberillo de Lavapiés, Pan y toros, Alma de Dios, El trust de los tenorios, Los claveles, La reina mora, Doña Francisquita, Luisa Fernanda, La Generala, La Revoltosa, La Verbena de la Paloma; Agua, Azucarillos y Aguardiente, Los descamisados, El año pasado por agua, Marina, El Dominó azul, La Dogaresa and La Gran Vía. He has always received excellent reviews that emphasize his charisma and interpretation as well as his immaculate conducting technique.