Programs

  • Quintet Concerts and Memory Project

    From October 2023 to June 2024, Quintet of the Americas served over 800 people with 14 free live concerts featuring new music in Queens and 2 in Manhattan. These concerts were performed for audiences that included seniors, the disabled, families, and college students. In the fall of 2023 QOA participated in the Latin American Culture Week Festival in NYC by performing four concerts in Queens and Manhattan including for seniors at centers and at Alzheimer's Day Care program in St. Albans, at Maple Grove Cemetery in Queens, and at the National Opera Center in Manhattan. This concert was recorded and live-streamed. Repertoire included past commissions: Voices of the Unseen by Gilbert Galindo, and Pra dormir na Rede by G Thiago de Mello, as well as Brooklyn Folk Divertimento by Carlos Pavan (NY premiere), Danza de mediodia by Arturo Marquez, Canto arena by Silvio Rodriguez in a new arrangement by Ernesto Oliva, and dances from Colombia. On Feb 15, 2024 QOA launched a new Memory Project involving seniors at Sunnyside Community Services by performing a concert of pieces with memories for Quintet members. QOA introduced composer Fernando Otero and Otero and QOA members interviewed seniors after the concert to collect material for Oteros' new piece. Other spring concerts featured music by Jenni Brandon, Julia Wolfe, Gabriela Ortiz and past QOA commissions by Peri Mauer and Shanyse Strickland. QOA performed this program at senior centers, York College, the Queens Botanical Garden and at a gallery in Manhattan. Quintet of the Americas reached over 1,300 students in school demonstration concerts at 3 public schools, Castle Bridge School on Manhattan, PS199Q, and PS150Q. Through music from Latin America, these interactive concerts demonstrated the instruments of the woodwind quintet. and concepts of melody, harmony and rhythm. Students at each school performed with us on several pieces at the end of the programs using percussion instruments from our collection. These concerts reached New York City students with white, Hispanic, Asian, and African-American backgrounds.
    Geographies
    Not indicated
    Dates
    Jul 1, 2023 – Jun 30, 2024
    Source
    990
    No causes provided
    No populations provided
    –
    $93.3K