Concerts Announced For Pregones/PRTT's MARCH IS MUSIC Program
The company's well-loved series features an expansive curatorial vision during its 15th anniversary.
By: A.A. Cristi Feb. 26, 2021
Pregones/PRTT announces the 2021 lineup for its popular concert series, March is Music (MIM), featuring 15 FREE events including traditional, classical and contemporary concerts, film screenings and conversations with the company's vibrant community of artists and collaborators.
The series launches March 1 and streams free of charge through the company's Facebook, Vimeo, and Youtube channels. A Happy Hour celebrating the series' 15th anniversary is scheduled for March 27, RSVP is free but required for attendance and can be made here. Detailed event information is outlined below.
March is Music 15th Anniversary (MIM15) Events
Monday, March 1, 7:30pm - Spotlight: Desmar Guevara
Pregones/PRTT's longtime Resident Composer and Musical Director, Pianist Desmar Guevara, favors new music idioms in Latin Jazz and experimental and non-traditional music for live theater performance.
Wednesday, March 3, 9:30pm - Bronx Film Wednesdays: HomeGrown: HipLife in Ghana
A feature-length documentary about music group VIP (Vision In Progress), HipLife in Ghana tracks ten years of the music group's journey from the ghetto in Accra to their first international tour. They grow from being teenagers with a shared dream to musicians with fans around the world. Interview with the director by Sonyi Lopez of BronxNet.
Saturday, March 6, 8pm - Contemporary Chamber Concert: El Puerto Rico 3: Identity Duets
The Victory Players Contemporary Music Ensemble, under the direction of Music Director Tianhui Ng, performs a virtual chamber concert featuring duets by six composers commissioned by MIFA Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts / Victory Theatre in Holyoke, MA.
Now in its third year, the goal of MIFA's El Puerto Rico is to acquaint audiences with the exciting work of living Puerto Rican composers, this year's stellar roster includes Gabriel Bouche Caro, Carlos Carrillo, Johanny Navarro, Christian A. Quiñones, Iván Enrique Rodríguez, and Omar Surillo.
Sunday, March 7, 4pm - Bronx Piano Sundays: Oxana Mikhailoff / Vassily Primakov Duo
Oxana Mikhailoff and Vassily Primakov have known each other for 30 years. They spent formative years at the Moscow State Conservatory under the tutelage of the legendary Vera Gornostaeva. That experience formed an unbreakable bond between the two pianists, whose playing is hailed by critics, respectively, as "poetic and sensitive" and "exceptional, refined, multicolored." For this MIM anniversary they perform works by Mozart, Liszt, and Strauss.
Monday, March 8, 7:30pm - Spotlight: Carlos Cuevas + Waldo Chávez
Pregones/PRTT collaborating pianist Carlos Cuevas and longtime ensemble musician and bass whiz Waldo Chávez have blazed trails in Latin music and share a passion for the work of live Latinx musical theater.
Saturday, March 13, 8pm - Latin Jazz Concert: Alex García's AfroMantra
Led by Chilean-Cuban drummer/composer Alejandro "Alex" García, AfroMantra combines rich harmonies with the powerful rhythms and flavors of North and Latin America. With a contemporary outlook, the four-piece band skillfully balances original compositions that draw from Caribbean, South American, and North American traditions and influences. "Magisterial in its melodic and harmonic intent" (Latin Jazz Network). Lineup includes Carlos Chong on guitar, Álvaro Benavides on bass, and Coto Pincheira on keyboard.
Sunday, March 14, 4pm - Bronx Piano Sundays: Sara Davis Buechner
Internationally acclaimed pianist Sara Davis Buechner returns to MIM with a masterful program titled ¡Danza! A Celebration of Hispanic Piano Music. The program features works by Mompou, Cervantes, Turina, Longas, and Buechner's own New York Scrapbook with a section dedicated to The Bronx! Noted for her "intelligence, integrity and all-encompassing technical prowess" (NY Times), Sara is undoubtedly one of today's most original artists.
Monday, March 15, 7:30pm - Spotlight: Álvaro Benavides + Nicky Laboy
Two stalwarts of Pregones/PRTT's acting and music ensemble -bassist Álvaro Benavides and percussionist Nicky "Cajadura" Laboy- share from their dazzling careers on and off the stage.
Saturday, March 20, 8pm - Afro Dominican Fusion Concert: Yasser Tejada + Palotré
Yasser Tejeda & Palotré is a New York-based Dominican fusion group that is giving traditional folkloric music a new spin with jazz, rock, and Caribbean rhythms in "a frenzied celebration of ancestral union" (Billboard). "Palotré invigorates the bachata and merengue tradition with a post-Hendrix, post-Jaco, post-Bob Marley aesthetic that is positively brimming with hip ideas and an edgy electric quality" (Jazz Times).
Sunday, March 21, 4pm - Bronx Piano Sundays: Margarita Rovenskaya
Pianist Margarita Rovenskaya grew up listening to classical composers in the kitchen, while her grandmother cooked, and started taking lessons at the age of six. She has performed extensively in the U.S. and abroad and is a prize winner of the prestigious Constantine the Great International Competition, WPTA Finland International Competition, and American Fine Arts Festival, among others. For her MIM debut, Rita will perform Antonín Dvo?ák's thirteen-part Poetic Tone Pictures, the Czech composer's longest and most elaborate piano cycle.
Monday, March 22, 7:30pm - Spotlight: Alvan Colón Lespier
March Is Music is the dream come true of Pregones/PRTT's Associate Artistic Director and Chief Curator of Music Programs, Alvan Colón Lespier. A seasoned director of musical theater, he talks about his lifelong love of the stage, his creative relationship with all things musical, his initial vision for a world-class music series curated by Latinx artists and hosted annually in the South Bronx, and the series' future yet! One of 5 Spotlight episodes celebrating MIM15.
Saturday, March 27, 8pm - Latin Jazz Concert: Hommy Ramos' Trombeatz | Pre-concert Happy Hour at 7pm
Led by trombonist Hommy Ramos with percussionist Nelson Bello, Trombeatz is a dynamic and adventuresome ensemble whose debut album, A Caribbean Thing, was released to great acclaim by Truth Revolution. The group has performed in Puerto Rico and throughout the eastern U.S. and is known for its high energy and melodic skill. "At once soulful and sophisticated, [the band] reflects a deep understanding of the Latin Jazz tradition, while taking the music somewhere fresh" (Steve "Stevie-D" Davis).
Sunday, March 28, 4pm - Bronx Piano Sundays: Moriah Trenk / Zhenni Li Duo
Moriah Trenk, praised for her "fluid and graceful style" (Villages News), is current Company Pianist at the prestigious Pennsylvania Ballet. Zhenni Li, hailed for her "torrents of voluptuous sound" (Gramophone Magazine), is a Steinway Artist and founder of both The Last Soirée and Fishin' in C music series. Both are seasoned, traveled, and daring musicians whose coming together sets off sparks of technical prowess and sentiment. Their MIM program includes works by Debussy, Brahms, Barber, and Piazzolla.
Monday, March 29, 7:30pm - Spotlight: Jessica Moya + Milton Ruiz
Pregones/PRTT's Production Manager, Jessica Moya, and our Sound Engineer, Milton Ruiz, know the magic of March Is Music inside out and behind the scenes. They share from all they get to see and make technically exact. One of 5 Spotlight episodes celebrating MIM15.
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