"Danzas and Arias" - featuring music of African British composer Samuel Coleridge Taylor & Mexican composer, Arturo Marquez

Oakland Public Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra

The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music presents “Danzas and Arias,” a free concert of multicultural orchestral music performed by the OPC Symphony Orchestra. The concert will also feature arias from selected operas performed by Bay Area vocal artists, Michelle Jacques, Brenda Usher-Carpino, and Gustavo Hernandez.

“Danzas and Arias” features compositions by Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Arturo Márquez, Manuel de Falla, C. W. von Gluck, and Georges Bizet. Michelle Jacques performs the “Habanera” from Bizet’s opera, Carmen; Brenda Usher-Carpino performs “Divinités du Styx” from Gluck’s opera, Alceste; Gustavo Hernandez performs "On away! Awake, beloved!" from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s cantata, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast. The orchestra will perform Coleridge-Taylor’s, Danse Negre from African Suite, inspired by a Paul Lawrence Dunbar poem; and Márquez’s Danzón No. 2, which Márquez dedicated to his daughter, Lily, and was first performed in 1994 in Mexico City. Also included on the program are two fiery flamenco dances, the Farruca and the Fandango, from Manuel de Falla’s opera, El Sombrero de Tres Picos (The Three-Cornered Hat).

The OPC Symphony Orchestra is dedicated to performing orchestral works of African American and other under-heard composers. It provides opportunities for musicians to explore, engage, and experience these compositions, while nurturing an appreciation for the cultural significance of these works and their performance in the community.

Maestra Sandra I. Noriega (aka Sandy Mabee) is the first woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Music degree in Percussion Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory. As well, she is the first woman to earn a Master of Arts degree in Percussion Performance from California State University East Bay in Hayward. In 2008, Ms. Noriega completed an intensive Post-Master’s Program, earning a Professional Performer’s Certificate in Instrumental Conducting at California State University, Sacramento. Also in 2008, she created the Oakland Public Conservatory’s first adult symphony orchestra. In 2010, Ms. Noriega became a charter member of Classical Musicians with Disabilities, and was invited to conduct several works for the inaugural concert of "The D Major International Music Festival", in Kiev, Ukraine in the Fall of 2011.

Please support the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music and its Bay Area Musical Artists by joining us for this exciting Concert! No admission.

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For more information about OPC and its programs visit http://www.opcmusic.org