by Dr. Ceylon Mitchell II | Sep 15, 2024
Members of the Raíces Negras chamber music collective celebrate 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.” Within these musical works, audiences will discover and enjoy the worldly and otherworldly soundscapes these composers can elicit.
by Dr. Ceylon Mitchell II | Jun 8, 2024
Dedicated to Dr. Ceylon Mitchell in March 2023, Cuban composer Leo Brouwer’s “El cazador de historias” (The Hunter of Stories) comes literally from the posthumous book of the same name by Eduardo Galeano (Uruguayan journalist and writer), one of the most eminent thinkers of the last fifty years. Featuring controlled indeterminacy, extended techniques, and virtuosity from Brouwer’s avant-garde style of composition, this new work for flute, cello, and piano represents an eclectic sound universe connected to ancient and modern Latin American literature and culture. Paquito D’Rivera’s Invitación al Danzón, originally written for clarinet trio, pays homage to the national dance of Cuba, the guajira country song, and the strong influence of jazz upon D’Rivera’s compositional style.
by Dr. Ceylon Mitchell II | Jun 8, 2024
Members of the Raíces Negras chamber music collective celebrate 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.” Within these musical works, audiences will discover and enjoy the worldly and otherworldly soundscapes these composers can elicit.
by Dr. Ceylon Mitchell II | May 10, 2024
Join modern Cuban charanga ensemble Raíces Negras in a program dedicated to the beloved Cuban music group Orquesta Aragón. To showcase this fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms and European classical instruments, Raíces Negras features popular songs from the danzón and cha-cha-cha craze of the 1940s and 1950s, including hits like “Almendra” and “Pare Cochero” by songwriter Richard “La Flauta Mágica” Egües.
This program is performed at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. Rain site: East Building Auditorium
Directed by flutist Dr. Ceylon Mitchell, Raíces Negras is a music collective celebrating Black and Latin voices across the Americas. Blending and bending traditional genres with improvisation, the group’s distinctive sound encompasses a full range of character—from the rich timbral colors of the modern Pierrot ensemble to the Afro-Brazilian swing of choros and complex rhythms of Cuban charanga, and everything in between! Formed by Mitchell in 2019, the collective began as a local, grant-funded concert series of Afro-Latin music, and now consists of world-class musicians hailing from the United States, Venezuela, Brazil, Bulgaria, Haiti, and beyond.
- Ceylon Mitchell, flute
- Sarah Taylor Cook, vocals/coro
- Sheyda Do’a, vocals/coro
- Michael Paxton, sax
- Geraldo Marshall, trumpet
- Christine Kharazian, violin
- Sandy Choi, violin
- Joshua Jenkins, piano
- Chuco Mendoza, bass
- Fran Vielma, percussion: congas
- Dominique Patrick Noel, percussion: timbales
- Bruno Lucini, percussion: drum set, guïro, claves
by Dr. Ceylon Mitchell II | Feb 28, 2024
Dedicated to Dr. Ceylon Mitchell in March 2023, Cuban composer Leo Brouwer’s “El cazador de historias” (The Hunter of Stories) comes literally from the posthumous book of the same name by Eduardo Galeano (Uruguayan journalist and writer), one of the most eminent thinkers of the last fifty years. Featuring controlled indeterminacy, extended techniques, and virtuosity from Brouwer’s avant-garde style of composition, this new work for flute, cello, and piano represents an eclectic sound universe connected to ancient and modern Latin American literature and culture. Paquito D’Rivera’s Invitación al Danzón, originally written for clarinet trio, pays homage to the national dance of Cuba, the guajira country song, and the strong influence of jazz upon D’Rivera’s compositional style.
