Join us for a chamber music concert celebrating four innovative and prominent American women composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Spotlighting the flute, cello, and piano, each work explores an element of nature and the spirits that dwell within, ranging from the Negro spirituals in Undine Smith Moore’s “Afro-American Suite,” the motions and gestures of the beach in Tania León’s “Sands of Time,” a day in the life of the Papua New Guinean rainforest in Elisenda Fábregas’s “Voices of the Rainforest,” or the avant-garde timbral illusions and mythical imagery of Clarice Assad’s world-premiere commission entitled “Flight of the Fairies.” The program focuses on universal thematic material, told by talented voices from diverse backgrounds. While the storytelling of Moore and Fábregas is much more literal and accessible, the illustrative atmospheres from Assad and Leön are stark, evocative, and ambiguous. Within these musical works, audiences will discover and enjoy the worldly and otherworldly soundscapes these composers can elicit.

Repertoire includes:

• Clarice Assad: Flight of the Fairies (commission)
• Tania León: del Caribe, soy! (fl, pn)
• Undine Smith Moore: Afro-American Suite
• Elisenda Fábregas: Voices of the Rainforest
• Leo Brouwer: El cazador de historias (commission)
• Leo Brouwer: La región más transparente (fl, pn)
• Paquito D’Rivera: Invitación al Danzón

Ensemble includes:

• Dr. Ceylon Mitchell, flute
• Dr. Elizabeth Hill, piano
• Erin Murphy Snedecor, cello

The Brazilian Choro is an intriguing, imaginative, and beautiful music. This musical genre, birthed in Rio de Janeiro in the mid-19th century, represents the height of Brazilian nationalism. Like the national dish feijoada, where a lot of different ingredients are thrown in to make the stew, choro has its roots in African syncopated rhythms and European dance forms, including the lundú, the polka, and the habanera, creating a very unique style. Traditionally, the common instrumentation includes the flute leading with ornamented melodies, the guitar and cavaquinho providing improvised harmonic and rhythmic accompaniment as well as the melodic counterpoint, and percussion, usually pandeiro, providing the rhythmic backbone aligned with the solo melody. Though the genre is usually instrumental, at times some compositions have accompanying lyrics. The improvisatory nature of choro mirrors that of North American jazz and virtuosity is a hallmark of the style. Arguably, the most influential composer in the preservation of choro during the 20th century was the Afro-Brazilian composer and flautist Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Jr. (1897–1973), or Pixinguinha, as he was more commonly known. He famously revolutionized counterpoint in choros and samba. As part of this program, you will hear a selection of famous compositions by him and his contemporaries.

Repertoire includes:

• Carinhoso
• Cochichando
• Um a Zero
• Lamentos
• A Flor Amorosa
• Lundu Característico

Ensemble includes:

• John Lee, guitar
• Lucas Ashby, percussion
• Andre Coelho, percussion
• Pablo Regis de Oliveira, cavaquinho
• Seth Kibel, sax and clarinet

Contemporary classical flutist Dr. Ceylon Mitchell II leads the modern Cuban charanga ensemble Raíces Negras in an evening dedicated to the beloved Cuban music group Orquesta Aragón and its songwriter, Richard “La Flauta Mágica” Egües. The performance features hits like “El Bodeguero” and “Pare Cochero,” showcasing the fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms and European classical instruments. A celebration of traditional Cuban forms and Latin jazz, Mitchell and the award-winning musicians of Raíces Negras bring audiences to their feet.

Repertoire includes:

• Almendra
• Pare Cochero
• Ceylon’s Danzón (commission)
• Danzón Siglo XXI
• El Paso De Encarnación

Ensemble includes:

• Sarah Taylor Cook, vocals/coro
• Michael Paxton, sax
• Christine Kharazian, violin
• Joshua Jenkins, piano
• Chuco Mendoza, bass
• Fran Vielma, percussion: congas
• Dominique Patrick Noel, percussion: timbales
• Bruno Lucini, percussion: drum set, guïro, claves