Flushing Town Hall’s most popular series, Common Ground: Mini-Global Mashups, continues with its “Jazz Piano Meets Venezuela” concert featuring American jazz artist Amina Claudine Myers and Venezuelan bandola llanera performing artist Maria Fernanda González on Sunday, Sept. 18.
“Presenting these Mini-Global Mashups each month is one of the highlights of what we do at Flushing Town Hall,” said Ellen Kodadek, Flushing Town Hall’s executive and artistic director. “I cannot wait for our audience to hear the musical talents of the legendary Amina Claudine Meyers and María Fernanda González.”
Myers is a multifaceted artist, composer and educator who performs original works of jazz, blues, gospel, spirituals and improvisations for the pipe organ.
In 2010, Myers was commissioned by the Chicago Jazz Institute to compose and direct a composition for a 17-piece jazz orchestra in celebration of the late Miss Mary Lou Williams’ 100th birthday. Myers has received multiple grants and awards from institutions that include the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer and The New York Foundation for the Arts. Myers was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame in 2010.
González is a bandola llanera player, educator, self-taught composer and journalist from Barquisimeto, Venezuela. She is one of the only women worldwide performing the bandola professionally as a solo artist.
She has competed in and won competitions at the renowned Joropo Festival in Colombia. She is also an innovator in her craft, experimenting with genres, sounds and cross-cultural collaboration in her compositions. In 2016, she became the first woman to play the electric version of the bandola. González is also a founding member of LADAMA, a band composed of four women from four countries.
Flushing Town Hall’s Mini-Global Mashups series has been curated by acclaimed trumpeter and composer Frank London of The Klezmatics, who himself performed in Flushing Town Hall’s original, large-scale Global Mashups series.
“Audiences can look forward to enjoying amazing performers whose music is tied to their traditions but simultaneously modernized and fused with other musical elements that expand their borders,” London said.
The Sept. 18 performance begins at 1 p.m. and will be followed by a Q&A conversation between the artists and the audience.
In-person tickets are $12 for Flushing Town Hall members and $15 for non-members. Those who are unable to attend in person can view the livestream for free on Flushing Town Hall’s YouTube page. Donations are encouraged.
For the mini-global mashup series’ full schedule and to purchase tickets, visit flushingtownhall.org/mini-global-mashups or call 718-463-7700 ext. 222.
For the venue’s full schedule of 2022 fall events, visit flushingtownhall.org/events.
