Quintet Of The Americas to Present Special Concert Celebrating the
Birthday of William Grant Still at New York's Langston Hughes Library
on May 11
The Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center, in cooperation
with the Latin American Cultural Center of Queens, will present the Quintet
of the Americas in a concert celebrating the birthday of William Grant
Still on Friday, May 11, 2001, 7 PM at the Langston Hughes Public Library,
100-01 Northern Boulevard in Corona, Queens.
Works to be performed will include William Grant Still's Rising Tide,
the theme song for the 1939 World's Fair, his Folk Suite No. 4 and
Miniatures which include music of Mexican, Peruvian, Venezuelan, Brazilian,
and American influences, Still Rock'n in Jerusalem, a spiritual with a
salsa beat by New York composer, Carl MaultsBy, Afro and Dizziness by
Cuban-American composer Paquito D'Rivera, Obangiji by African composer Fela
Sowande, and ragtime and jazz music by Louis Armstrong, Scott Joplin, James
P. Johnson, and Edward "Kid" Ory. Also on the program will be music by
Queens composer James Cohn and dance music from Cuba and the coast of
Colombia, all of which were influenced by music with African origins.
This concert is free and open to the public. For directions and concert
information, please call the Langston Hughes Public Library at
718-651-1100.
The Quintet of the Americas, consisting of flutist Sato Moughalian,
oboist Matt Sullivan, clarinetist Edward Gilmore, hornist Barbara Oldham
and bassoonist Laura Koepke, was formed in Bogota, Colombia in 1976 by
U.S. citizens who were principal wind players in the Colombian National
Orchestra. The group relocated to New York City in 1979 and has since
enjoyed an international career that has taken them to concert halls
throughout the Americas and the Caribbean, including annual performances
at Manhattan's Americas Society since 1982. Two time recipients of
ASCAP-Chamber Music America Awards for Adventuresome Programming, the
Quintet's repertoire represents works from composers with a wide-range of
aesthetic viewpoints. They have recorded for CRI, Newport Classics, MMC
and XLNT. Visit their website at http://www.quintet.org.
William Grant Still (b. May 11, 1895- d.1978) was known as "The Dean
of Afro-American composers". He was born in Woodville, Mississippi and
grew up in Arkansas. Early in his musical career he played and arranged
for W.C. Handy and attended the Oberlin Conservatory. Following World
War I he studied composition with Edgar Varese and then attended the New
England Conservatory where he was a student of George Chadwick. He held
a Guggenheim fellowship and was awarded honorary doctorates from Howard
University, Oberlin College, and Bates College. W. G. Still broke many
barriers during his career, including being the first African-American
composer to write orchestral works and have them performed by major
symphony orchestras, as well as being the first conductor of color to lead
a major American symphony. His musical style incorporates a variety of
African-American styles, from spirituals to blues and jazz, in addition
to European, Latin American, and other folk music genres. For more
information about him, visit http://www.williamgrantstillmusic.com/ or
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/sgo/start.html.
This program is sponsored with public funds from the New York State Council
on the Arts, a public agency, the New York City Department of Cultural
Affairs, and the New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic
Preservation. Additional funds provided by the Aaron Copland Fund for
Music and the Music Performance Trust Funds, Local 802, A.F. of M. With
special thanks to NYS Senator the Hon. Frank Padavan, the Hon. Claire
Shulman, Borough President of Queens, Councilman Archie Spigner and the
Queens Delegation to the New York City Council.
For information about the Quintet of the Americas, please call Jeffrey
James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166.
Jeffrey James <[log in to unmask]>
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