DACA Seminar Series: A Performance and Conversation: Arturo O’Farrill, Cornel West, the DuBois Orchestra and the New England Conservatory

Date: 

Wednesday, February 21, 2018, 7:00pm to 8:30pm

Location: 

OBERION, American Repertory Theater
Three-time Grammy Award-winning pianist, composer, educator, and founder and Artistic Director of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, Arturo O’Farrill will be visiting the Harvard campus in late February. A musician of deep social conscience, all of Arturo’s music is written with someone, something, or some community, in mind. A ferocious collaborator of musicians of many styles, as well as the dance idiom, Arturo’s latest project is entitled “Little Tiny Walls” and will feature musicians from Mexican folkloric styles, Afro-Latin jazz, and the classical idiom, collaborating and playing literally across the border wall between Mexico and the United States. One of the key concepts behind this piece is that Trump’s Presidency has already exploited and exacerbated many borders, walls, and divisions in our society - without building any physical structures. This four-movement piece is still being written, and this event will be the workshop premiere of the first movement, featuring student musicians from the Harvard Du Bois Orchestra, and the New England Conservatory.
 
In addition to the premiere, a panel discussion about how art and politics are interacting under this administration around issues of immigration, identity and the undocumented in America will include Arturo, Dr. Cornel West, Dr. Roberto Gonzales, and others.