Oracle Conservatory of Music Masterclass
Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024
10 am
Sponsored by Jim & Judy Walsh
and
Frank Pierson & Kaz Kazda
Instructors
Aldo López-Gavilán, piano & Ilmar Gavilán, violin
Program
Claude Debussy
Arabesque No. 1
Sophia Maddock, piano
Johann Sebsatian Bach
Violin Partita No.2 in D minor, BWV 1004
V. Chaconne
Jacqueline Rodenbeck, violin
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS
Ilmar Gavilán
Recognized as a child prodigy in Cuba, Ilmar Gavilán has had a distinguished career playing for world leaders from the Obamas to Queen Sofía of Spain. Based in N.Y. for 20 years, he won first place in the Sphinx Competition as a young adult, and helped form the Harlem Quartet to mentor young classical musicians of color. Along the way, Ilmar also developed improvisational skills and has performed and released albums with Paquito D’Rivera, Eddie Palmieri and Gary Burton, and Chick Corea, with whom the Harlem Quartet won a Grammy. He continues to tour and teach with the HarlemQuartet, who are currently in residence at London’s RoyalCollege of Music.
Mr. Gavilán has performed with Itzhak Perlman, Arnold Steinhardt, Ida Kavafian, Carter Brey, Paul Katz, Fred Sherry, Anthony McGill and Misha Dicter. As a soloist, Mr. Gavilán played concertos with the Atlanta, New Jersey, Baltimore, Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Hartford, Nashville, Ann Arbor, Santa Monica, Phoenix, Denver, Louisiana, Anchorage, Santa Fe, Havana, Mexico City, and Venezuela Symphonies and recitals in England, Russia, Spain and Portugal. He has performed at numerous chamber music festivals including Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Angel Fire.
Jazz and Afro-Cuban music are also key to Mr. Gavilán’s musical life. In addition to Jazz legends Chick Corea and Gary Burton, Mr. Gavilán has also performed and released albums with Paquito D’Rivera, Eddie Palmieri and Dafnis Prieto. Other Jazz collaborations include performing with Stanley Clark, Lee Konitz, Henry Threadgill and Doc Severinsen. Mr. Gavilán has been presented in iconic Jazz venues such as The Blue Note in New York as well as International Montreal Jazz, Detroit Jazz, Panama Jazz and Saalfelden Jazz Festivals.
As a recording artist, Mr. Gavilán has numerous recordings with the Harlem quartet. His U.S. Solo recording debut “Aires y Leyendas” and a solo album “Por el Mar” solely comprised of music composed by his father Guido López-Gavilán, are available on Amazon and iTunes.
Aldo López‐Gavilán
Praised for his “dazzling technique and rhythmic fire” in the Seattle Times and dubbed a “formidable virtuoso” by The Times of London, Cuban pianist and composer Aldo López-Gavilán excels in both the classical and jazz worlds as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber-music collaborator, and performer of his own electrifying jazz compositions. He has appeared in such prestigious concert halls as the Amadeo Roldán (Cuba), Teresa Careño (Venezuela), Bellas Artes (Mexico), Royal Festival Hall (U.K.), Nybrokajen 11 (Sweden), The Hall of Music (Russia), and Duc de Lombard et Petit Journal Montparnasse (France).
Aldo made his professional debut in Cuba at the age of 12. He studied at the London Conservatory and returned to Cuba to compose, perform, and teach. Parallel to his classical abilities, Aldo developed remarkable improvisational skills and a prodigious talent as a composer. He was invited to perform in the world-famous Havana Jazz Festival with the legendary Chucho Valdés, who called him “simply a genius, a star.”
López-Gavilán’s collaborators have included some of the greatest artists in the classical, popular music, and jazz fields. The late Claudio Abbado, one of the world’s most celebrated and respected conductors, invited him to perform with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela in 2006, in a special concert dedicated to the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. Maestro Abbado subsequently invited him to perform Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 1 in Caracas and Havana. In 2009 López-Gavilán was invited by Carlos Varela to join his band for a tour of Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. In 2010 he joined the São Paulo Jazz Symphonic Orchestra to perform his music in a concert that was recorded and broadcast on national television in Brazil. His first album won the Grand Prix at Cubadisco. He has recorded seven albums since, and scored the documentary film Los Hermanos/The Brothers.