(Boston) Celebrity Series of Boston presents Unitas Ensemble, Histoire du Tango: a Piazzolla Celebration, in a streaming concert on Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 8pm ET as part of the “Celebrity Series at Home” Neighborhood Arts Community Concerts virtual concert series. A Boston-based chamber ensemble dedicated to performing works by Latin-American and Latinx composers past and present, Unitas Ensemble makes their Celebrity Series Neighborhood Arts debut with a streaming program celebrating tango music by the incomparable Astor Piazzolla. The performance features live narration by Unitas Ensemble's artistic director and conductor Lina Gonzalez-Granados, and takes place at Futura Productions Studio in Roslindale.
Tickets for the digital concert are free with RSVP and are available online at celebrityseries.org/productions/unitas-ensemble. To browse the entire “Celebrity Series at Home” series and learn more about all of the free and paid performances, visit: celebrityseries.org/athome.
Program:
Osvaldo Golijov, Last Round, for string nonet (1996)
Astor Piazzolla, Two tangos for strings
Coral
Cayengue
Astor Piazzolla (arr. Osorio), Histoire du Tango, for clarinet and string orchestra
Astor Piazzolla (arr. Ljova), Libertango, for flute and string orchestra
About Unitas Ensemble:
Unitas Ensemble was founded in 2014 to satisfy the need to share a sound that embodies and reflects the soul of the Latinx diaspora through concert music. This music derives great influences from its European and North American ancestors, but it differs from them by its exploration of the popular fascination with the endemic experience of the Latinx community, and a respect for the folkloric. Unitas Ensemble is, as a musical project, the most refined representation of their aspirations.
Led by award-winning Artistic Director Lina Gonzalez-Granados, Unitas has performed and commissioned nearly a dozen World, North American, and U.S. premieres, and have offered a variety of free concerts geared toward offering underserved communities access to artistically enriching experiences. Recent spotlights include their season-long “Mujeres” project, focused on the music of Latina composers; this included the U.S. premiere of Teresa Carreno’s Serenade for Strings, 200 years after its composition. They also celebrated the 100th anniversary of Stravinky’s Histoire du Soldat with a newly commissioned work by Colombian composer Juan David Osorio, which sourced correspondence from guerillas, soldiers, and victims of Colombia’s 50-year armed conflict. In 2018, they released Estaciones, their debut CD, recorded alongside the Latin Grammy-winning Cuartero Latinoamericano.
Upcoming performances include their 2020-21 season project “Reimagined,” focused on the art form of the Tango and the Bolero, appearances with Celebrity Series, and their 4th Annual bilingual Holiday celebration “Navidad Latina.”
About Celebrity Series of Boston
Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario Aaron Richmond. The Series has been bringing the very best performers–from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more–to Boston’s major concert halls for 81 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives and build better communities. Through its education initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience—on stages, on streets, in neighborhoods–everywhere.
Celebrity Series of Boston is grateful to our 2020-21 Season Sponsors Amy & Joshua Boger, and to the many individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies whose generosity supports Arts for All! and help fulfill our mission to present performing artists who inspire and enrich our community. Individual and Institutional supporters include the Barr Foundation through its ArtsAmplified initiative, Leslie & Howard Appleby, Stephanie L. Brown Foundation, The Catered Affair, Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Mr. & Mrs. Peter Coxe, Amy & Ethan d’Ablemont Burnes, D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corp., First Republic Bank, Foley & Lardner LLP, Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals, George & Lizbeth Krupp, Liberty Mutual Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Outside the Box: A Production of the Boston Arts Summer Institute, Cynthia and John S. Reed Foundation, Royal Little Family Foundation, Stifler Family Foundation, Anonymous, and many others.
Arts for All! programs are also made possible by support from the LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All Endowment & Innovation Funds of the Celebrity Series of Boston.
celebrityseries.org
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