Music of the Americas: Live Premiere in New York and Online

Tuesday, December 6, 10 am

Italian guitarist Diego Salvetti, who lives in Brazil, is back with one of his compositions, "Samba do lago," in which he is accompanied by a percussion track he pre-recorded. 

Thursday, December 8, 10 am

In 2015, Cuban pianist Willanny Darias performed a solo recital on our stage. She performed music by Alberto Ginastera, Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy, and fellow Cubans Tania León, Ignacio Cervantes, and Ernesto Lecuona.

Darias was born in Havana in 1993 and graduated from Manhattan School of Music in 2014 with a bachelor's of music under the tutelage of Salomon Mikowsky.

Also on the program was Ferruccio Busoni's virtuosic fantasy on Carmen, the "Sonatina no. 6, BV 284: Chamber Fantasy on Bizet’s Carmen." Busoni (1866–1924), who was also a prominent critic and an authority on musical aesthetics in Germany (he was born in Italy but lived in Berlin for decades and published mainly in German) premiered the piece in London in 1920 to an audience astonished by the author's use of that most popular of operas.

Friday, December 9, 7 pm

World premiere of Que tus ojos no se cansen de brillar.

Puerto Rican composer Gabriel Bouche Caro composed a new song cycle for soprano and ensemble (clarinet, sax, guitar, violin, viola, cello, percussion).

In the words of the composer, “this song cycle, featuring texts by Giannina Braschi (selected by the composer) and other Puerto Rican authors (selected by Braschi), focuses on the idea of “puertorriqueñidad” (what makes one Puerto Rican) and identity in exile.

The composer is based in New York City, where he is a PhD candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center. Gabriel explores concepts and perceptions of personal and musical identity through language and the experience of life as part of a colonized people and society. Identity, authenticity in a non-native environment, and foreignness are all tints that color the artistic conception and eventual discourse that is communicated in his work. His music has been performed throughout the Americas, in Europe, and in Asia. 

The MetLife Foundation Music of the Americas concert series is made possible by the generous support of Presenting Sponsor MetLife Foundation.

The Fall 2022 Music program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and by the Howard Gilman Foundation. 

Additional support comes from the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, The Amphion Foundation, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, New Music USA’s Organizational Development Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals’ ArtsForward program, made possible through support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and The Augustine Foundation.           

The commission of Que tus ojos no se cansen de brillar is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.