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THE ARTS CENTER

UAE Debut

Mambo - Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

Valentine’s Day Dance and Mambo Dance Lesson

Thursday, Feb 14 @ 8pm

The East Plaza

Past Event

Relive the Palladium era of classic mambo with a Valentine’s Day dance starring four-time Grammy-award winner Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

“Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra is one of the best jazz orchestras in existence, a powerhouse outfit whose precise section work is enhanced by thrilling soloists.” – The New Yorker

Watch the trailer

The Grammy-award winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO), led by pianist, composer, and director Arturo O’Farrill, brings together the drama of big band jazz, the culture of Latin music, and the virtuosity of eighteen of the world’s most accomplished solo musicians. Twelve years of critically acclaimed performances internationally, have firmly established the ALJO as the standard-bearer for creative interpretation of Latin jazz greats such as Tito Puente, Frank “Machito” Grillo, and Chico O’Farrill, as well as the driving force behind new commissions from Latin music’s most talented composers and arrangers. Presenting programs that range from the very best in dance music sure to bring audiences to their feet, to repertoire that pushes the genre forward, the ALJO commissions and performs innovative compositions and big band arrangements by Vijay Iyer, Miguel Zenón, Dafnis Prieto, Guillermo Klein, Pablo Mayor, Arturo O’Farrill, Michele Rosewoman, Emilio Solla, Papo Vazquez, and many others.

Listen to the music

Biography

Arturo O’Farrill, pianist, composer, and educator, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. He received his formal musical education at the Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory, and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. His professional career began with the Carla Bley Band and continued as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte.

In 2007, he founded the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the performance, education, and preservation of Afro Latin music.

In December 2010 Arturo traveled with the original Chico O’Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra to Cuba, returning his father’s musicians to his homeland. He continues to travel to Cuba regularly as an informal Cultural Ambassador, working with Cuban musicians, dancers, and students, bringing local musicians from Cuba to the US and American
musicians to Cuba. Concurrently, Arturo is the Director of Jazz Studies at CUNY Brooklyn College.

An avid supporter of all the Arts, Arturo has performed with Ballet Hispanico and the Malpaso Dance Company, for whom he has written two ballets. The Alvin Ailey Dance Company is touring a ballet entitled Open Door, choreographed by Ron Brown to several of Arturo’s compositions and recordings.

Arturo has received commissions from Meet the Composer, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Philadelphia Music Project, Symphony Space, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Arturo’s well-reviewed and highly praised “Afro-Latin Jazz Suite” from Cuba: The Conversation Continues took the 2016 Grammy Award (his fourth) for Best Instrumental Composition.


Piano Masterclass with Arturo O’Farrill
  • Work one on one with Grammy-Award winner Arturo O’Farrill on piano techniques and training methods. We may ask you to prepare a piece of music for you and Arturo to work on together.
  • Skill level: Intermediate to professional.
  • Ages: 16+
  • Friday, Feb 15 at 3pm
  • The Blue Hall
  • Limited spaces available. Click here to sign up.

Vocal Workshop with Malika Zarra

  • Moroccan / French singer, composer, and producer Malika Zarra takes participants through the style and techniques of her music.
  • Skill level: Intermediate to professional.
  • Ages: 16+
  • Friday, Feb 15 at 5pm
  • The Arts Center
  • Limited spaces available. Click here to sign up.


NYU Community and Students

Are you a member of the NYUAD Community or an NYUAD Student?

  • NYUAD Community check the Intranet for offers. Before purchasing your tickets you need to create an account on The Arts Center’s website. Check the Intranet (The Arts Center Tickets and Accounts) for details on this.

NYUAD Students check the Student Portal (The Arts Center Tickets and Accounts) for details on booking NYUAD Student tickets.*

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