We Write Classical Music!
*The event has already taken place on this date: Sat, 01/25/2025
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Cordancia will collaborate with Eno Okung and local composers on two children’s concerts in January 2025 entitled We Write Classical Music!
Rochester director, improvisor, and actor Eno Okung will host these performances featuring music written by young Rochester composers Alyssa Rodriguez and Kevin Leysath II. The program features music of Black and Latina composers performed by a string quintet.
Admission is free for afternoon family concerts on Saturday January 25, 2025 and Sunday January 26, 2025. Concerts will run approximately 50 minutes.
The performances are geared towards families with children 12 and under but will also entertain music lovers of every age.
Okung has performed with popular improv trio Ants to Gods up and down the East Coast and recently directed Dot at Blackfriars Theatre. A resident instructor and performer at The Focus Theater, Okung teaches improv and performs as a stand-up comic. Their work also includes exploration of clown technique with wonder and joy.
Concert attendees will receive a free, fully illustrated booklet by local children's book illustrator Rosemary Shojaie. The booklet shares the stories of the local composers' pieces and illustrations will be projected during the performance. Rodriguez’s piece Kalevala for Kids is a retelling of Finnish mythology based on her experiences studying music in Finland. Leysath’s music Red Tail Visions tells the story of a young boy learning about the heroic Black pilots of World War II. The concerts will allow Rochester families to see and hear composers from their own city who are making their way as professional musicians.
More classical music, all by Black and Latina composers, will be performed. Living composers and greats from the past will be included, including Rhiannon Giddens, Angélica Negrón, William Grant Still, Joseph Bologne, and Florence Price.
These concerts are made possible by ArtsBloom funding from the City of Rochester.
*Times, dates, and prices of any activity posted to our calendars are subject to change. Please be sure to click through directly to the organization’s website to verify.