New Reviews of Book on Benet Casablancas Last fall we announced an upcoming book on composer Benet Casablancas, who has collaborated with the Foundation for Iberian Music many times. The book is now out and we are delighted to report that it is receiving glowing reviews. Codalario calls the book “excellent” in their detailed review here. Todo Literatura also reviewed the book, virtually calling Casablancas the hardest working composer in Spain. The book was reviewed in Casablancas’ hometown newspaper Diari de Sabadell (click image to enlarge): And finally (for now), Barcelona’s La Vanguardia mentioned the book in their article on this L’Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona concert, which featured works by Casablancas:
Collaboration with the 2018 NYC Flamenco Festival The Foundation for Iberian Music is delighted to be a participant in the upcoming 2018 NYC Flamenco Festival. We will be hosting a symposium with our resident flamencologist, K. Meira Goldberg, author of Flamenco on the Global Stage and the forthcoming Sonidos Negros. The Flamenco Festival is one of NYC’s largest annual dance events and the coming year’s festival will be held March 2–11. We look forward to sharing more details about the festival and our symposium as program details are finalized! As usual, follow us on Facebook and on Twitter for the latest announcements!
US Premiere of Galician Bagpiper, Mercedes Peón On December 8, Mercedes Peón will perform at Elebash Recital Hall as a part of the Graduate Center’s Live@365 series. This is the US premiere of this award winning multi-instrumentalist. Peón is a master bagpiper, singer, and percussionist. She has collaborated with musicians such as Xosé Manuel Budino, Manu Chao and Carlos Núñez, and the Guardian has called her “one of the Spanish music scene’s true originals.” At her upcoming concert, “Ancient and Contemporary Songs of Galicia Spain,” she will perform both the traditional music of Galicia and her own original songs, based in this tradition. Tickets are $25, or FREE with a CUNY ID! CUNY students from any campus may email gcevents@gc.cuny.edu to reserve a ticket. Just present your ID at the door. Enjoy this preview of some of her original music, from a performance at the Musicport festival: Tickets: $25 7:00 pm, 7 December 2017 Elebash Recital Hall, the Graduate Center 365 Fifth Ave, NYC, 10016
Conference: Transatlantic Rhythms in Music, Song, and Dance Natives, Africans, Roma, and Europeans: Transatlantic Rhythms in Music, Song, and Dance Indígenas, africanos, roma y europeos: Ritmos transatlánticos en música, canto y baile An international conference in Veracruz, Veracruz, México 11–13 Abril 2019 • Full Program • The Foundation for Iberian Music at the CUNY Graduate Center, partnering with the Center for Iberian and Latin American Music at the University of California Riverside, and the Instituto Veracruzano de Cultura in Veracruz will convene an international conference on the circulation of transatlantic rhythms. We encourage all scholars in the fields of musicology, ethnomusicology, dance, theater, gender, race and ethnicity, diaspora, and immigration studies to submit proposals by spring of 2018. For more information about the conference theme, please see the Call for Papers. This our third conference in a series on transatlantic musical legacies, after 2017’s Transatlantic Malagueñas and Zapateados in Music, Song, and Dance at UC Riverside, and our inaugural conference at the Graduate Center in 2015, The Global Reach of the Fandango. (Selected papers are available from The Global Reach of the Fandango in English, from Cambridge Scholars Publishing (CSP), and in each paper’s original language, from Música oral del Sur. Selected papers from the UC Riverside zapateados conference are forthcoming in Spanish from Diagonal and in English from CSP.) View the program here. (Image: “El Fandangoe,” Samuel E. Chamberlain, 1847. In the collection of San Jacinto Museum of History.)
Gurumbé Screenings in NYC The date of our Gurumbé film screening and flamenco performance is rapidly approaching and tickets are selling fast. Get tickets here for this special event, December 3rd. Gurumbé: Afro-Andalusian Memories (Canciones de tu memoria negra) is a groundbreaking film that has been screening worldwide. It has been an official selection at more than ten US and international film festivals. Most recently, it screened at the Latin Cinema Festival in Minneapolis, and it is a part of the upcoming African Diaspora Film Festivals in Chicago and New York. Harvey Karten, the founder of New York Film Critics Online just reviewed the film, giving it four out of five stars. Our event at La Nacional is the first opportunity to meet and participate in a Q&A with the director, Miguel Ángel Rosales, dancer Yinka Esi Graves, and our host, K. Meira Goldberg, who will be moderating. In addition to our special screening event at La Nacional, there will be many additional opportunities to see Gurumbé in NYC. The film will run for one week at Cinema Village, December 1–7. It is also being screened at Columbia University on December 10th, in addition to numerous other university screenings in the northeast. Here is a full list of upcoming screenings: Howard University (Washington DC), Nov 27 Scribe Video Center (Philadelphia, PA), Nov 28 La Nacional (NY, NY), Dec 3 Smith College (Northampton, MA), Dec 5 Bryn Mawr College (Philadelphia, PA), Dec 6 The University of Chicago, Dec 8 Columbia University (NY, NY), Dec 10 Lastly, tickets are still available to see Yinka Esi Graves in a full dance program at Gibney Dance, November 30 – December 2. Watch Gurumbé‘s official Facebook page for up to date news and information on screenings, and of course, follow the Foundation on Facebook and on Twitter.
Civilizing the Monster: Romantic Longings in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” Friday, 8 December 2017, 5:30-7:30, at CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, Martin Segal Theatre, 1st floor. Mary Shelley’s classic 1818 novel began as a late-night parlor game with her husband, the poet Percy Shelley, her stepsister Claire Clairmont, the poet Lord Byron, and Byron’s doctor John Polidori, centering on who could write the best horror tale. Since then, Shelley’s novel has been adapted to stage and film and has generated innumerable interpretations. The story of the scientist Victor Frankenstein and his ill-conceived effort to create a human-like monster has been read as a parable of science gone awry, a critique of Romanticism, a contribution to the tradition of “female gothic,” an autobiographical narrative of tormented creation (Mary’s mother Mary Wollstonecraft died giving birth to Mary), a Miltonic tale of “God-like” man, and as an allegory of overreaching industrial ambition. Mary Shelley’s mythic text will be discussed through its many interpretations and its distinct language and style, addressing its repercussion on several disciplines. Dreamlike and nightmarish scenarios, represented in works by Romantic composers from Schubert to Strauss, will be examined in connection with similar literary techniques in Frankenstein and in reference to the several attempts by the Creature to humanize and civilize himself. Prof. Nancy Yousef Professor of English at The Graduate Center and Baruch College, CUNY James Melo ERC Musicologist and Senior Editor at RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, CUNY Graduate Center FREE ADMISSION Presented by the Ensemble for the Romantic Century in partnership with the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, in connection with ERC theatrical concert, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. For more information on ERC theatrical concerts, visit http:\\www.romanticcentury.org
New York Andalus Ensemble Winter Concert The New York Andalus Ensemble, in residence at the Foundation for Iberian Music, will be holding their winter concert with the full ensemble on December 13th. This year’s concert is in the intimate space of La Nacional. Tickets are $18, $15 student and senior, available through Event Brite. We recommend buying your tickets early! NYAE shows frequently sell out, at much larger venues. December 13, 7:30 pm La Nacional, 239 West 14th Street, NYC
Quasar Trio: New Resident Ensemble at the Foundation for Iberian Music We are delighted to welcome the newly-formed Quasar Trio to the roster of ensembles in residence at the Foundation for Iberian Music. The Quasar Trio is comprised of acclaimed musicians Eva León on violin, José Franch-Ballesters on clarinet, and Jon Klibonoff on piano. The trio released this statement: The Quasar Trio brings creative energy to the exploration of chamber music, new and old. Three established musicians, each with a sterling international reputation, have forged an ensemble that is steeped in a wide, varied repertoire and fluent in diverse cultural idioms. As soloists, these players have won praise for their “astonishing vitality and energy” (La Vanguardia, Spain), “technical wizardry,” and “perpetual motion” brilliance (New York Times). As an ensemble, they bring the same expertise and dedication, yet are freer to offer bold, innovative programming, featuring music by both established and emerging composers and leading audiences down roads less traveled. The trio is committed to artistic collaborations that go beyond the usual boundaries of chamber music, teaming up with other musicians and launching cross-genre projects that produce visually engaging performances. In short, the Quasar Trio brings new energy to NYC’s music scene and expands the universe of offerings available to its audiences. León received her doctorate from the Graduate Center, under the advisement of Antoni Pizà. Each of the musicians in the trio has won numerous prizes and awards for their playing. You can read their full artist profiles in the statement, here. The trio’s first events will be announced soon, so be sure to check back with us here or on our social media (Twitter, Facebook) for news!
New Essay Collection on Benet Casablancas Coming soon on Galaxia Gutenberg is collection of papers on esteemed Spanish composer (and many time Foundation for Iberian Music collaborator) Benet Casablancas. The book is entitled Arquitecturas de la emoción: La música de Benet Casablancas, edited by Javier Pérez Senz. The collection is the product of a collaboration between Fundación SGAE (the Spanish Society of Authors) and L’Auditori de Barcelona, among other fine institutions. Arquitecturas de la emoción is a diverse collection of Spanish and English language essays by philosophers, critics, musicologists, composers, and more, including writings by Casablancas himself and numerous interviews with him. Foundation for Iberian Music director Antoni Pizà contributed an essay to the analytical studies portion of the book.