Dranoff 2 Piano presents world premiere of Chucho Valdés' brand new work

MIAMI - May 2, 2023 - PRLog -- On May 18^th and 19^th at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium, Dranoff 2 Piano will celebrate the music of Cuba in performance and poetic writings in the evolution from the independence from Spain and European music to the infusion of West African music becoming Afro-Cuban bringing us to contemporary composers' original works.  The Cuban Sound is the most influential rhythm style in world music today "Musical Journeys of Cuban Independence" concerts will culminate in a gorgeous and very meaningful new piece from jazz legend Chucho Valdés commissioned by the Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation.

On May 18^th "Rhythms & Writings of Cuban Independence from Jose Marti to today" Latin Jazz Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Martin Bejerano will join Cuban piano great Kemuel Roig, drummer Ignacio Berroa, and bassist Edward Perez: 3 generations of Cuban poets in the rhythms and writings of Cuba from Jose Marti to today. The music and the language of independence and the Island's artistic identity will be performed in a multimedia remembrance and celebration of the Cuban spirit and its art.  Renowned Cuban drummer Ignacio Berroa will give a pre-concert talk and demonstration of the great rhythm, songs, and Cuban dance standards that bring us to the Cuban Sound today.

May 19^th "New Music of Cuban Independence" celebrates 20 de Mayo – Chucho Valdés world premiere – the greatest living jazz pianist and performer today – "Suite Afrocubana to Lico Jimenez" In addition, some of the most famous Chucho Valdés Cuban hits along with original contemporary music will be performed by Martin Bejerano, Kemuel Roig at the pianos and sung by vocalist Roxana Amed with bassist Edward Pérez and drummer Ludwig Alfonso.

A VIP celebration with Chucho Valdés, artists, and fans after the May 19^th concert. Iconic Cuban rum cocktails and bites will be served.

Chucho Valdés will dedicate his Suite Afrocubana – Dranoff 2 Piano 2023 commission – to Black Cuban composer Jose Manuel Jimenez "Lico"Jimenez"  who  was an outstanding classical composer who influenced the top classical and jazz  composers of the early 20th century including Cervantes and Lecuona. Lico Jimenez studied with Brahms, beat Debussy in Paris competitions, and worked with Franz Liszt for many years. Jimenez ultimately left Cuba permanently due to racial discrimination and violence and became Music Director of the Hamburg Conservatory and Orchestra in Germany. Starting with "Musical Journeys of Cuban Independence" Chucho plans to restore Jimenez to his rightful place of prominence in the classical canon and public performances.

Thursday, May 18^th, 2023 at 8pm

"Rhythms & Writings of Cuban Independence from Jose Marti to Today"

Ignacio Berroa (Drums and Lecture), Martin Bejerano (Piano), Kemuel Roig (Piano),
Edward Pérez (Bass). Poets: Pablo Medina, Adrian Castro, Cheryl Fiffe.

Friday, May 19^th, 2023 at 8:00 pm

"New Music of Cuban Independence" Chucho Valdés World Premiere
Martin Bejerano (Piano), Kemuel Roig (Piano), Roxana Amed (Vocals),
Edward Pérez (Bass), Ludwig Afonso (Drums)

Miami Dade County Auditorium Black Box Theater
2901 W. Flagler Street
$40 VIP Seating w/Reception; $30 General Admission; $5 Students
2-Day Ticket $70 VIP

About Dranoff

For 37 years, the Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation has been the world's leading champion of exclusively two piano repertoires and artistry. Dranoff discovers, promotes, and awards honors to top professional duo piano artists through its competition, commissions, and presentations of duo piano concerts in Miami and prestigious concert venues in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Dranoff 2 Piano is one of the leading commissioners of top classical and Jazz composers today including John Corigliano, William Bolcom, Gabriela Lena Frank and 2023 world premiere of Chucho Valdés. The Dranoff promotes awareness in a new generation of students of the transformational power of music and the arts through its multi-disciplinary, educational, and inspirational concert program, PIANO SLAM.

About the Artists

Chucho Valdés is a Cuban pianist, composer, and bandleader. Jesús "Chucho" Valdés  turned 82. It's a milestone after which many would choose to sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor.  At the beginning of the year Dranoff 2 Piano commissioned Chucho Valdés to compose a 2 piano and Jazz ensemble commission. In a career spanning more than 60 years, both as a solo artist and bandleader, Mr. Valdés has distilled elements of the Afro-Cuban music tradition, jazz, classical music, rock, and more, into a deeply personal style. Winner of seven GRAMMY® and six Latin GRAMMY® Awards, Mr. Valdés, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Science last year and was also inducted in the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Martin Bejerano is an acclaimed pianist and composer and has performed/recorded with numerous jazz luminaries including his 20 year association with GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award-winning drummer Roy Haynes, Christian McBride Band, Dave Holland, Pat Metheny, Ignacio Berroa, Ron Carter, Russell Malone, Dafnis Prieto, Roxana Amed, Brian Lynch,, Adam Nussbaum, John Faddis, Roy Hargrove, Marcus Strickland  He is featured on over 25 recordings, including the GRAMMY nominated Fountain of Youth with the Roy Haynes Quartet, and Roxana Amed's Latin GRAMMY nominated album Ontology. "Editor's Choice was nominated for a Latin GRAMMY award. Currently, Martin heads the Jazz Piano Studio at the acclaimed Frost School of Music, University of Miami, is serving as Artistic Director for the world-renown Dranoff International 2 Piano Foundation.

Kemuel Roig born in Havana Cuba studied both percussion and classical piano as a student at the Cuban National Vocational Art School in Ciego de Avila, Cuba, until relocating to the United States in 2002.   At the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy he won both outstanding composition and piano solo from DownBeat Magazine's Annual Student Competition with the MDC Hard Bop Jazz Ensemble. Roig has toured and recorded globally with musicians such as Arturo Sandoval, Al Di Meola, Giovanni Hidalgo, Ed Calle, Amaury Gutierrez, Aymee Nuviola and Isaac Delgado.

Pablo Medina is the author of more than a dozen books of fiction, poetry, memoir, and translation. His work in both Spanish and English explores identity, language, and place, often through narratives of exile and memory.  Medina writes. "For the Cuban, who had his exile coursing through his blood, nostalgia is, has always been, the cradle and grave of his passions. He cannot love without invoking loss and he cannot sing without his mouth filling with grief. The exile has two births—that which brings him into the world and that which brings him into exile—both dominated by the trauma of expulsion." Medina's collections of poetry include Arching into the Afterlife (1991), The Floating Island (1999), The Man Who Wrote on Water (2011), the photography and poetry book Calle Habana (2013, with Carlos Ordonez), and The Island Kingdom (2015With poet Mark Statman, Medina translated Federico García Lorca's Poet in New York (2008) in a translation that John Ashbery described as "the definitive version of Lorca's masterpiece."

Adrian Castro is a poet, performer, and interdisciplinary artist. Born in Miami from Caribbean heritage which has provided fertile ground for the rhythmic Afro-Caribbean style in which he writes and performs. He is the author of Cantos to Blood & Honey), Wise Fish Handling Destiny and has been published in several literary anthologies including Conjunctions, Paper Dance:55 Latino Poets, Little Havana Blues, The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature, The Oxford Companion of Caribbean Verse, A Century of Cuban Writers in Florida, Step Into A World: A Global Anthology of New Black Literature, Renaming Ecstacy: Latino Writings on the Sacred. He is the recipient of a USA Knight Fellowship, the Cintas Fellowship, State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship