UA’s School of Music to Present ‘A Cuban Celebration’ Concert

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s School of Music will present “A Cuban Celebration” concert Tuesday, Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Moody Music Building’s Concert Hall as part of UA’s Cuba Week.

The concert is free and open to the public.

School of Music faculty who have participated in the Alabama-Cuba Initiative over the years will perform in the concert, as well as some of their Cuban counterparts who are visiting Tuscaloosa for Cuba Week.

“All musical styles will be presented,” said Charles “Skip” Snead, director of the School of Music. “There will be some American music—what we call traditional classics—and some Cuban music. It will end with 20-minutes of jazz, and it should make for a really great concert.”

Among the UA faculty groups performing will be the Capstone Quintet and the Alabama Brass Quintet, Snead said.

Jenny Mann, an assistant professor of bassoon at UA, who has visited Cuba twice in recent years in conjunction with the Alabama-Cuba Initiative, described the music she will play during the concert as “very fun, fiery music.”

“It’s been extremely fulfilling to be involved,” she said, regarding the Initiative. “They (the Cuban musicians) play amazingly well and are wonderful artists.”

UA’s Alabama-Cuba Initiative, now in its eighth year, has brought UA and Cuban educators together to establish opportunities for graduate student research, teaching and formal course work for undergraduate students at Cuban academic institutions.

Since 2002, UA has received academic travel licenses from the U.S. Department of the Treasury that permit travel to Cuba for specific academic activities as part of the Cuba-Alabama Initiative. The license also provides opportunities for UA to invite Cuban scholars to the University for scholarly activities and for UA students to attend the University of Havana for a semester.

UA’s College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.