Eastman School of Music musicians—faculty, students, and alumni—will be prominent at this year’s Chihuahua International Festival: Associate professor Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez is the festival’s composer-in-residence; the Eastman BroadBand Ensemble is the resident ensemble for the festival’s contemporary music component; guitarist Dieter Hennings and the woodwind quintet Arabesque Winds will each present a recital; and the JACK Quartet, a string quartet of Eastman graduates, will also perform.
The fourth annual Chihuahua International Festival, scheduled from Sept. 4 to Oct. 1 in the Mexican city, features more than 450 events in dance, music, painting, theater, literature, and film, showcasing guest artists from Mexico and 21 other countries.
“The festival offers Eastman students opportunities to interact professionally with international artists, while sharing the high level of musicianship and creativity we cultivate at Eastman with audiences around the world,” said Sanchez-Gutierrez.
Eastman BroadBand is an initiative by composition faculty members Sanchez-Gutierrez and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon to promote international collaborations that showcase Eastman’s achievements in contemporary music. The BroadBand Ensemble has appeared at New York City’s Joyce Theatre with the Garth Fagan Dance Company, Italy’s SpazioMusica Festival, and the Morelia and Michoacan New Music Festivals of Mexico.
Eastman BroadBand will be in Chihuahua as a chamber orchestra of 18 musicians during the week of Sept. 22. The ensemble will present two concerts of contemporary repertoire under the baton of Mexican composer-conductor Juan Trigos and will be joined by marimbist Makoto Nakura and pianist Cristina Valdés for one recital. In addition, ensemble members Hennings, Deidre Huckabay, and Isabel Kim will give private lessons to local musicians.
As composer-in-residence, Sanchez-Gutierrez will speak at the opening and closing ceremonies of The Chihuahua International Festival, give a series of lectures and master classes, and coach chamber instrumental readings.
Arabesque Winds, dedicated to the performance of contemporary wind music, was formed at Eastman in 2005 and this year won the Grand Prize in the International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition. The members of the JACK Quartet met and started performing together as undergraduates at Eastman; the group has appeared in Europe and North America and was praised for its “powerhouse playing” by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The public can enjoy a preview of the Eastman BroadBand Ensemble’s Chihuahua Festival performance at a “bon voyage” concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18, in Kilbourn Hall. The program includes a selection from the concerts that the BroadBand Ensemble and Arabesque Winds will present in Chihuahua. Admission is free.
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Calendar Listing:
Sept. 18
8 p.m.
Eastman BroadBand Ensemble and Arabesque Winds. With Dieter Hennings, guitar; Cristina Valdés, piano; Makoto Nakura, marimba; and Juan Trigos, conductor. Music of Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Juan Trigos, Elliott Carter, and György Ligeti.
Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music
26 Gibbs St.
Free