Cantos y Bailes
featuring
Toomai String Quintet
Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin & Alex Fortes, violin
George Meyer, viola Hamilton Berry, cello Andrew Roitstein, double bass
Music
Ernesto Lecuona, Manuel Ponce, Paquito D'Rivera, Amadeo Roldán
at the
North Fork Arts Center
211 Front Street, Greenport, NY 11944
Saturday, September 13th, 2025, at 7:00pm
This concert is part of the program
Energía internacional!
featuring
Toomai String Quintet
Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin & Alex Fortes, violin
George Meyer, viola Hamilton Berry, cello Andrew Roitstein, double bass
Music
Ernesto Lecuona, Manuel Ponce, Paquito D'Rivera, Amadeo Roldán
at the
North Fork Arts Center
211 Front Street, Greenport, NY 11944
Saturday, September 13th, 2025, at 7:00pm
This concert is part of the program
Energía internacional!
Description
Toomai String Quintet, an ensemble known for championing works by Latin American composers through its inventive original arrangements, performs music from Cuba, Mexico, and beyond in this celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. The program includes works by early 20th century composers such as Ernesto Lecuona and Manuel Ponce; and current-day compositions by Tania León, Paquito D'Rivera, and Adonis Gonzalez-Matos.
Music Program
Ernesto Lecuona — La Comparsa (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Adonis Gonzalez-Matos — Conga
Gisela Hernández — Guajira (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Tania León — Tumbao (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Amadeo Roldán — Canción de cuna de un niño negro (arr. Hamilton Berry)
Ernesto Lecuona — Andalucía (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Isaac Albéniz — El Puerto (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Manuel Ponce — Tres Canciones Mexicanas (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Paquito D'Rivera — The Elephant and the Clown
Toomai String Quintet, an ensemble known for championing works by Latin American composers through its inventive original arrangements, performs music from Cuba, Mexico, and beyond in this celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. The program includes works by early 20th century composers such as Ernesto Lecuona and Manuel Ponce; and current-day compositions by Tania León, Paquito D'Rivera, and Adonis Gonzalez-Matos.
Music Program
Ernesto Lecuona — La Comparsa (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Adonis Gonzalez-Matos — Conga
Gisela Hernández — Guajira (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Tania León — Tumbao (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Amadeo Roldán — Canción de cuna de un niño negro (arr. Hamilton Berry)
Ernesto Lecuona — Andalucía (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Isaac Albéniz — El Puerto (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Manuel Ponce — Tres Canciones Mexicanas (arr. Andrew Roitstein)
Paquito D'Rivera — The Elephant and the Clown
This is a production of
Rites of Spring Music Festival
in collaboration with
North Fork Arts Center
This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Huntington Arts Council.
The Toomai String Quintet
The Toomai String Quintet is an ensemble devoted to playing a variety of musical traditions from around the world, creating its own string arrangements, and commissioning new works. The award-winning group has been engaging audiences across the United States for over a decade, performing concerts in collaboration with presenters such as Carnegie Hall, 92 Y, and the Juilliard School, among others. A group of world-class musicians and passionate educators, Toomai combines these elements to create highly interactive programs for audiences of all ages.
Central to Toomai’s mission is the expansion of the Latin American repertoire for string ensemble. Toomai has arranged or commissioned over 20 works by Latin American composers. The ensemble also facilitates educational workshops that teach young people creative approaches to music through the lens of Cuban and Brazilian traditions. In 2018, Toomai released its debut album, Cuerdas Cubanas; in 2024, the group will release a new album of Brazilian music, Passos Brasileiros.
Hailed for their “light-handed authority” on their “magnificently executed” playing (the Squid’s Ear), Toomai has performed in many capacities throughout the United States, with appearances at Lincoln Center, the 92 Y, Philadelphia Arts Alliance, and for the Americas Society (NYC), and Bay Chamber Festival (Maine), among others. The quintet was a pilot ensemble for Carnegie Hall’s “Musical Connections” program, and they continue to perform regularly in schools, hospitals, and alternative care facilities throughout New York City. In addition, the Toomai String Quintet has brought its array of educational programs to students in California, Florida, and across the Northeast, and has presented interactive concerts in collaboration with organizations such as California Institute of the Arts, The Juilliard School, and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute.
Formed in 2007 at The Juilliard School, the quintet is named after Rudyard Kipling’s short story “Toomai of the Elephants” in which a young boy journeys into the jungle to witness the dance of the wild elephants. The Toomai String Quintet aspires to cultivate a similar sense of curiosity and discovery by searching for diverse music and sharing it with its audience.
The quintet members are violinists Emilie-Anne Gendron and Alex Fortes, violist George Meyer, cellist Hamilton Berry, and bassist Andrew Roitstein
The Toomai String Quintet is an ensemble devoted to playing a variety of musical traditions from around the world, creating its own string arrangements, and commissioning new works. The award-winning group has been engaging audiences across the United States for over a decade, performing concerts in collaboration with presenters such as Carnegie Hall, 92 Y, and the Juilliard School, among others. A group of world-class musicians and passionate educators, Toomai combines these elements to create highly interactive programs for audiences of all ages.
Central to Toomai’s mission is the expansion of the Latin American repertoire for string ensemble. Toomai has arranged or commissioned over 20 works by Latin American composers. The ensemble also facilitates educational workshops that teach young people creative approaches to music through the lens of Cuban and Brazilian traditions. In 2018, Toomai released its debut album, Cuerdas Cubanas; in 2024, the group will release a new album of Brazilian music, Passos Brasileiros.
Hailed for their “light-handed authority” on their “magnificently executed” playing (the Squid’s Ear), Toomai has performed in many capacities throughout the United States, with appearances at Lincoln Center, the 92 Y, Philadelphia Arts Alliance, and for the Americas Society (NYC), and Bay Chamber Festival (Maine), among others. The quintet was a pilot ensemble for Carnegie Hall’s “Musical Connections” program, and they continue to perform regularly in schools, hospitals, and alternative care facilities throughout New York City. In addition, the Toomai String Quintet has brought its array of educational programs to students in California, Florida, and across the Northeast, and has presented interactive concerts in collaboration with organizations such as California Institute of the Arts, The Juilliard School, and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute.
Formed in 2007 at The Juilliard School, the quintet is named after Rudyard Kipling’s short story “Toomai of the Elephants” in which a young boy journeys into the jungle to witness the dance of the wild elephants. The Toomai String Quintet aspires to cultivate a similar sense of curiosity and discovery by searching for diverse music and sharing it with its audience.
The quintet members are violinists Emilie-Anne Gendron and Alex Fortes, violist George Meyer, cellist Hamilton Berry, and bassist Andrew Roitstein
