“The rapprochement between the United States and Cuba is continuing to open doors for more cultural cross-pollination,” writes Michael Cooper in Monday’s (7/13) New York Times. “The organizers of a starry concert in Havana this fall pairing the piano virtuosos Lang Lang and Chuco Valdés said on Monday that the performance would feature the American conductor Marin Alsop leading the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba. The concert will be held outdoors on Oct. 9 in the Plaza de la Catedral, a picturesque square in Old Havana. Having Ms. Alsop, the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conduct the Cuban orchestra was in keeping with the vision of the concert’s organizers, who see the performance as a chance to mark a beginning of greater musical cooperation between nations.” Also performing will be “Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang and Mr. Valdés, the Cuban virtuoso who is a leading figure in modern Afro-Cuban jazz.… The concert is being co-produced by CAMI Music in cooperation with the Cuban Institute of Music in Havana and the Cuban Ministry of Culture.” In May, the Minnesota Orchestra became the first U.S. orchestra to perform in Cuba since steps toward normalized relations between the countries were announced in December.
Posted July 14, 2015
Pictured: Plaza de la Catedral in Old Havana, Cuba, during the Minnesota Orchestra’s May 2015 visit. Photo by Travis Anderson
