Aldo López-Gavilán & Mark Travis

CONCERT PROGRAM:

Debussy: Images Volume 1

Schumann: Arabeske, Op. 18

Bach: Three-Part Invention no.5 in E-flat Major BWV 791

López-Gavilán: De Princesas

López-Gavilán: Castillos y Puntos Suspensivos

López-Gavilán: Viernes de Ciudad

López-Gavilán: A Mi Hermanito LindoSuite No. 2 (Galactic Suite)

López-Gavilán: Playgrounds

López-Gavilán: Bonjour Daiana

López-Gavilán: Danzón Contigo Pan y Cebolla

López-Gavilán: Pan Con Timba

Aldo López-Gavilán

Cuban pianist and composer Aldo López-Gavilán was born in Havana to a family of internationally acclaimed classical musicians, his father a conductor and composer, his mother a concert pianist. Praised for his “dazzling technique and rhythmic fire” in the Seattle Times, and dubbed a “formidable virtuoso” by The Times (London), Aldo excels in both the classical and jazz worlds as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber-music collaborator, recording artist, and performer of his own electrifying jazz compositions.

He has appeared in such prestigious U.S. concert halls as New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, and Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center, as well as at Amadeo Roldán (Cuba), Teresa Carreño (Venezuela), Bellas Artes (Mexico), Royal Festival Hall (U.K.), Nybrokajen 11 (Sweden), The Hall of Music (Russia), Duc de Lombard et Petit Journal Montparnasse (France), and venues in Canada, Santo Domingo, Colombia, Spain, Greece, Hong Kong, Burkina Faso, Germany, and Austria.

Aldo’s collaborators have included some of the greatest artists in the classical, popular music, and jazz fields. The late conductor Claudio Abbado invited him to perform with Venezuela’s Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra in a special concert dedicated to the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth and Maestro Abbado subsequently invited him to perform Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in Caracas and Havana. More recently, Aldo joined with violinist Joshua Bell in organizing Seasons of Cuba, a PBS special that took place at Lincoln Center in December 2016, celebrating a new era of cultural diplomacy with a program ranging from Vivaldi to Piazzolla and beyond. Among the prestigious artists joining them were Dave Matthews, the Chamber Orchestra of Havana, singer-songwriter Carlos Varela, and soprano Larisa Martinez.

Aldo and his brother Ilmar Gavilán, first violinist of New York-based Harlem Quartet, are featured in the new documentary Los Hermanos / The Brothers, which tells the story of their shared childhood, their momentous first performances together, and their parallel lives as musicians; it includes a genre-bending score composed by Aldo, concert footage of him performing with Harlem Quartet, and guest appearances by such legendary musicians as Joshua Bell. A Patchwork Films production by Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider, Los Hermanos is screening at film festivals worldwide and will be nationally broadcast on PBS in the fall of 2021.

Aldo’s U.S. concert activity in the 2020-21 season included a May 8 virtual recital sponsored by Detroit’s CameraMusic in which he performed his own works in partnership with his violinist brother Ilmar, and two virtual performances sponsored by the West Michigan Symphony: a solo recital at The Block (May 22) and a return engagement with the orchestra for a performance of his own piano concerto, Emporium (May 21). Two U.S. tours with Harlem Quartet are planned for 2021-22. Also scheduled for that season is the debut of Aldo’s new trumpet concerto: Commissioned by New York’s Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, it will be premiered by that orchestra and the renowned trumpet soloist Arturo Sandoval at Carnegie Hall on February 19, 2022.

Mark Travis

With more than two decades of experience, Mark Travis has just about done it all, serving as a writer, producer, broadcaster, lecturer, podcaster, voiceover artist, multi-cam director, video editor and audio engineer. Currently Director of Media Production for the New York Philharmonic, he has directed the orchestra’s broadcasts (hosted by Alec Baldwin) since 2003.

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From 1999 to 2011 Mark served as a producer for Chicago’s WFMT Radio Network, where he wrote and directed more than 800 nationally syndicated programs. He also has an extensive discography as a music producer, including three Grammy-nominated recordings in five categories by the New York Philharmonic. Other credits include projects with Carnegie Hall’s Song Studio with Renée Fleming, Ensemble Connect, Handel & Haydn Society, Ensemble Companio, Living Music with Nadia Sirota—Pirate Radio Edition, the 92nd Street Y, the National Youth Orchestra, the Chicago Chorale, UMS, Interlochen Public Radio, Greenwich Choral Society, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He also serves as a regular guest lecturer for Mannes College of Music at New School University and the Grand Piano Series in Naples, Florida.

Mark is a member of NARAS and serves on both the Grand Jury and Radio Advisory Board for the New York Festivals International Broadcasting Competition. He has also served as juror and Music Committee Chair for the United States Artists panel in Los Angeles.

He has been the recipient of more than 30 medals and honors for his broadcast work, including the 2015 Grand Jury Prize and five best-director awards from the New York Festivals, and he was named a special honoree for his writing in the 2017 Webby Awards.