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Come join us at Crosstown Theater as we celebrate the works of composers of African descent from around the world.
Featuring rhythms from gospel to jazz, the serene to classical influences, there is something for everyone. Featuring award-winning artists James Rodriguez (baritone), Gwendolyn Alfred (soprano), Alisa Horn (cello) and Artina McCain (Piano).
Doors 7 pm | Performance 7:30 pm
General Admission $12 | $5 at door with Student ID
About the performers:
Described as a pianist with “power and finesse” (Dallas Arts Society), Artina McCain enjoys an international career throughout Europe, China and the US as a solo and chamber performer, pedagogue, and speaker. McCain’s solo and chamber performances have been heard on radio shows in Chicago, Austin, Toronto, and Hong Kong. An American Prize winner for her solo piano recordings, she will release an album of works entitled “Heritage: The American Composer” on the MSR label. She has won performance awards from the Austin Critics Table for the “Black Composers” Concert Series and is a three-time Global Music Awards winner for the album I, Too (Naxos), Shades, and Trombone Czar with husband and bass trombonist, Martin McCain. Dr. McCain is currently an Assistant Professor of Piano at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis and co-artistic director of the Memphis International Piano Festival and Competition.
Gwendolyn Alfred, DMA, Assistant Professor of Voice, Area Coordinator, Texas Southern University is an educator and professional vocalist. She recently premiered a newly commissioned opera for Houston Grand Opera which landed her in the prestigious Texas Monthly magazine. Her most recent solo debuts were with the Houston Symphony, Houston Civic Symphony, and the Fort Bend Symphony. Alfred was honored as a Living Legend of Southeast Texas specifically for her outstanding leadership in the music field.
Praised for his “authoritative and rich baritone,” James D. Rodriguez most recently performed and co-hosted the Carnegie Hall Linkup Concerts with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and sang the baritone solos in Handel’s Messiah with the San Antonio Symphony. He made his Opera in the Heights debut in the role of Tonio (Pagliacci) and was part of the holiday Spanish concert series, ConciertOh! de Invierno. Other notable roles include Escamillo (Carmen), Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Harlekin (Ariadne auf Naxos), Belcore (L’Elisir d’Amore), Captain Magallanes (Salsipuedes), Rappaccini (La Hija de Rappaccini), and the title roles in Don Giovanni and Rigoletto with such companies as Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera IOWA, Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, the Natchez Festival of Music, and the Moores Opera Center. Concert appearances include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Fauré’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Carlisle Floyd’s Pilgrimage, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, and Stainer’s Crucifixion. He regularly performs solo recitals, most recently with Austin Chamber Music Center, Phil Kramer Recital Series (Houston), Memorial Classic Music Series (Houston), and Coe College Music Department (Iowa). He was a finalist in the Concorso Lirica International Competition and the first place winner in the Texas Young Artist Vocal Competition.
Alisa Horn is a freelance cellist and loves performing and teaching a wide variety of musical genres from classical to jazz to rock and beyond. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Alisa has performed as soloist with orchestra playing pieces by Miaskovsky, Bloch, Dvorak, Bruch, and Elgar. She was a winner of the WAMSO-Young Artist Solo Competition and a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony. Alisa has attended many music festivals including Aspen Music Festival, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Meadowmount, Sewanee Summer Music Center, Henry Mancini Institute, Newport Jazz Festival (Rhode Island) , and Newport Jazz Festival (Oregon). With pianist, Jue He, Alisa recorded the Rachmaninoff and Miaskovsky Sonatas and the duo was featured on McGraw-Hill Young Artist Showcase. Along with jazz legends Marvin Stamm and Bill Mays, Alisa is a member of The Inventions Trio which performs a fusion of jazz and classical repertoire. The Trio has toured extensively and has released three albums including the diverse works of Bill Evans, Bill Mays, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Claude Debussy, and Miles Davis.
