Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra to Lead Lineup for National Sawdust & Chelsea Factory Partnership

National Sawdust and Paola Prestini and Chelsea Factory have announced the first companies to take the stage in the organizations' programmatic partnership. Grammy-winning composer and pianist Arturo O'Farrilland his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra with special guest Emeline Michel take over the landmarked site June 16-17, and New York's unconventional and experimental Bare Opea offers two performances of Thomas Cabaniss's Firesongs on June 18. All performances will be held at Chelsea Factory (547 West 26th St., between 10th and 11th Avenues). For more information and to purchase tickets, which begin at $35, please visit www.ChelseaFactory.org.

Kicking off a dynamic music collaboration, National Sawdust has set the lineup for its week of programming in partnership with Chelsea Factory. Leading the charge for the first two performances is the distinguished non-profit Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, presenting Jazz Across the Americas - An Afro Caribbean Experience, a celebration of the storied music genre as interpreted across the many cultures and rhythms of these island nations on June 16 and 17. Multi-Grammy Award-winning composer Arturo O'Farrill hosts with his 18-piece Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra performing both beloved jazz masterpieces and contemporary works from emerging Caribbean composers. Legendary Haitian singer and composer Emeline Michel lends her powerful voice and mastery of multiple music genres to the evening that moves the ever-evolving art form effortlessly into the future.

Based on the poetic works of writers from celebrated novelist Robert Louis Stevenson to United States Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, Firesongs, a song recital celebrating change that spans lifetimes, follows Afro Latin Jazz Alliance with two performances on June 18. From composer Thomas Cabaniss and presented by Bare Opera, the song cycle is not merely a work of music but a multi-layered experience of film, light, and images that surround and support the singers to create moments of conflict, respite, and reckoning.

Firesongs is directed by Malena Dayen, with music direction by David Rosenmeyer and choreography by Troy Ogilvie. Projection design is by Sangmin Chae and lighting design by Devin Cameron. Lending their voices to the shared embodiment of poetry and song are Anicet Castel, Inna Dukach, Eugenia Forteza, Marcelo Guzzo, David Charles Tay, Chanan Ben Simon, and Shanelle Woods accompanied by a small chamber ensemble.

About Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

GRAMMY Award-winning pianist, composer, and educator Arturo O'Farrill-leader of the "first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz" (New York Times)-was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Son of the late, great composer Chico O'Farrill, Arturo played piano in Carla Bley's Big Band from 1979 through 1983 and earned a reputation as a soloist in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte. In 2002, he established the GRAMMY Award-winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) to bring the vital musical traditions of Afro Latin jazz to a wider general audience, and to greatly expand the contemporary Latin jazz big band repertoire through commissions to artists across a wide stylistic and geographic range. In March 2021, O'Farrill and the ALJO won their 7th GRAMMY for Four Questions, with Cornel West as guest orator. In September 2018, O'Farrill released his album, Fandango at the Wall: A Soundtrack for the United States, Mexico, and Beyond, which was also released as a documentary for HBO MAX. In 2019, O'Farrill was appointed Professor at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in the Global Jazz Studies department and is currently the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. O'Farrill's debut recording with Blue Note Records ...dreaming in lions... is nominated for a 2022 GRAMMY Award in the "Best Instrumental Composition" category, and his album, Virtual Birdland (ZOHO), is nominated for "Best Latin Jazz Album." O'Farrill is a Steinway Artist and records for Blue Note Records.

Emeline Michel is an internationally acclaimed Haitian songstress and Red Cross Ambassador who fuses pop, jazz, blues, and traditional Haitian rhythms into deeply moving, joyful music delivered with a charismatic live show. A master entertainer, Michel has shared her message with audiences for more than 20 years, including appearances at Carnegie Hall, United Nations, Milan's Teatro Manzoni, Florida's Kravis Center, Festival International de Jazz (Haiti), Ontario's Luminato Festival, Montreal International Jazz Festival, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Tasmania's Ten Days On The Island, Zimbabwe's Harare International Arts Festival, and MTV's Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief. Michel began singing with the gospel choir in the church of Gonaïves, Haiti. After studying at the Detroit Jazz Center, she returned to Haiti, where her career blossomed. Now based in New York City, she runs her own production company, Production Cheval de Feu, and is a cherished voice for social issues surrounding women and children worldwide.

Bare Opera is a New York City-based company which has been making waves in the opera and theater communities since its founding in 2014. Winner of the "Best Independent Company 2020" Award from 360 of Opera, Bare Opera reimagines opera for today's audience by producing immersive operas and concerts that challenge old stereotypes, cultivate the next generation of opera singers, and inspire love for the art form. Bare Opera seeks to reinvent the opera experience. Started by three women-Min Lew, Laetitia Ruccolo, and Kirsten Scott-the company has evolved its mission and broadened its artistic base since its founding. With minimalist, modern aesthetics, Bare Opera's exceptional emerging and established artists bring you the bare essentials of opera-a candid, innovative and immersive theatrical experience with breathtakingly beautiful music at its core. Taking place in unconventional spaces like galleries and warehouses, and incorporating other art mediums and technology, the company strips opera of its clichés and creates a visceral and intimate experience for audiences, experienced and new alike. Bare Opera is keeping opera alive in the 21st century, one fresh production at a time.

National Sawdust believes that artistic expression empowers us all to create a more joyful and just world. They curate and present music and artistic works rooted in curiosity, experimentation, innovation, and inclusivity, and present our work by engaging communities of artists and audiences at their state-of-the-art Williamsburg home and on their digital stage embracing a wide stylistic approach to content including pop, dance, western classical, rock, hip hop, world music, jazz, R&B, experimental, new music, electronic, and opera.

Chelsea Factory exists to support artists, cultural organizations, and community groups as we collectively navigate beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. With an emphasis on support for New York City-based artists from historically excluded communities, Chelsea Factory provides highly subsidized creation and presentation space, production resources, and dynamic connections that create transformative experiences for its partners across genres. Chelsea Factory was founded by Jim Herbert with significant support from the First Republic Foundation. A pop-up project with a finite organizational life, Chelsea Factory remains a collaborative and noncompetitive resource to the partners it serves. With art-making at its core, Chelsea Factory is a place for New Yorkers to find connection, inspiration, and joy. Chelsea Factory is generously supported by Jim and Cecilia Herbert and the First Republic Foundation, with additional support from First Republic Bank, Related, Tishman Speyer, and Vornado.

National Sawdust premieres its programming partnership with Chelsea Factory from June 16-18. The performance schedule for Jazz Across the Americas - An Afro Caribbean Experience is as follows: Thursday and Friday at 8pm. The performance schedule for Bare Opera's Firesongs by Thomas Cabaniss is as follows: Saturday at 5:30pm & 8pm. Tickets, starting at $35, are available online atwww.ChelseaFactory.org.

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