Cinco de Mayo Celebration in New York City -- Tuesday, May 5 at 8 PM!

April 29, 2009 - PRLog -- North/South Consonance, Inc. continues its 29th consecutive Winter/Spring concert season with a special event  marking the Cinco de Mayo holiday.

This widely celebrated Mexican holiday commemorates the victory of the Mexican army over the invading French forces on May 5, 1862 near the city of Puebla. The Mexican soldiers were under the command of  Benito Juarez, the first indigenous president of Mexico.

The concert will feature  vocalists  Siri Rico &  Thelma Ithier-Sterling accompanied by pianist  Max Lifchitz performing art songs by composers from Spain, the Caribbean, Mexico and Latin America.

   The event will be held on Tuesday, May 5 at 8 PM at the auditorium of Christ & St. Stephen’s Church (120 West 69th St) in Manhattan. Admission is free — no tickets necessary.

  Siri Rico, soprano, is a graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ where she majored in voice, piano and organ. She continued her vocal training in Milan, Italy under the guidance of Maestro Vladimiro Badiali. In New York, Ms Rico worked with Thomas Schilling and the late Winifred Cecil.
   A native of Puerto Rico, Ms. Rico has premiered several works written for her by composers from Latin America. She has appeared as recitalist and chamber music participant in Puerto Rico, Argentina, México and Central America. She has been a soloist with the Arcady Music Festival Orchestra (in Maine), the National Symphony Orchestras of Guatemala and El Salvador (in Central America) and with the Orchestra of Guanajuato (in México). In New York, Siri Rico has appeared with The Little Orchestra Society, The Hudson Sinfonietta, The Bronx Arts Ensemble, and North/South Consonance. Ms. Rico is active as recitalist, chamber music participant and oratorio soloist.

   Award winning soprano Thelma Ithier-Sterling trained at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, the University of Puerto Rico and the Manhattan School of Music. She has participated in world premieres of works by among others, Tania León, Manuel B. González, Julio C. Mirón, and Joaquín Nin-Culmell. Her appearances as soloist with Teatro Repertorio Español and Música Hispana throughout the tri-state area have been widely praised by the press. She has also collaborated as soloist, instructor, and chorister with Boricua College Chorus in concerts at Carnegie and Town Halls as well as tours to Puerto Rico. She has performed with Música de Cámara, the Bronx Arts Ensemble, The Brooklyn Philarmonia and The American Composers Orchestra.
   Ms. Ithier-Sterling’s repertoire includes chamber music, opera, oratorio and, zarzuela. She has appeared throughout the Caribbean and has worked with conductors such as Guillermo Figueroa, Jr., Paul Dunkel, Laurine Fox, Alejandro Guzmán, Lazlo Halasz, Tania León, José Serebrier, Raymond Torres-Santos, and Pablo Zinger.

  Max Lifchitz, the Mexican-born composer and pianist has resided in New York City since 1966. Mr. Lifchitz studied at Juilliard and Harvard and has taught at Columbia University, the Manhattan School of Music, New School University and the University at Albany, SUNY.  In the fall of 2006 he was appointed to the position of  Elena Diaz-Verson Eminent Scholar in Latin American Studies  at Columbus State University. His CD devoted to the piano music of México elicited the following comment from Fanfare Magazine: "After several listenings, North/South Recordings No. 1010 is recommended to more than just a specialist audience because of the wide variety of attractive and challenging music that it contains. Lifchitz is a poetic pianist with requisite power to make the many granitic climaxes register. Easily, the most interesting new piano disc so far in 1996."
 
  Artists participating in the event are available to the press for interviews and may be contacted through our office at  

   North/South Consonance’s 2008-09 season is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; grants from the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, the Keene Family Foundation and the Music Performance Fund from Local 802; as well as contributions by many generous individuals.

For further information about its activities, including upcoming concerts, recordings  please visit http://www.northsouthmusic.org/

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A non-profit organization devoted to the promotion, performance and recording of music by living composers.