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8:30pm.Reimagining Tropiques: Then and Now featuring Aruán Ortiz, Anaïs Maviel and Aliya Ultan.
Reimagining Tropiques: Then and Now, is an new trio project with singer and percussionist Anaïs Maviel that examines articles, comments, and essays on negritude, creolization, and transatlantic Surrealism published by the iconic Martinican magazine Tropiques from 1941 to 1945, and explores the cultural syncretism between French modernism and the Afro-Caribbean experience. My score includes a series of pieces/sketches that integrate traditional Afro-Caribbean rhythms and chants, contemporary classical music, and avant-garde jazz improvisation, as well as poetry and spoken word with the idea of reinterpreting the ideas to illustrate the work narrative of the journal.
Reimagining Tropiques: Then and Now, has been made possible through Jazz & New Music, a program of Villa Albertine and FACE Foundation, with support from the French Ministry of Culture, Institut français, SACEM (Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique) and the CNM (Centre National de la Musique).
Aruán Ortiz (piano, voice and percussion):
Born in Santiago de Cuba, composer, pianist, music researcher and conceptualist Aruán Ortiz has been an active figure in the progressive jazz and avant-garde scene for more than 20 years. Ortiz’s career includes writing, producing, conducting, and directing music for jazz ensembles, orchestras, dance companies, chamber groups, and feature films. His music consistently strives to break stylistic musical boundaries incorporating influences from contemporary classical music, Cuban-Haitian rhythms, and avant-garde improvisation.
He is a Guggenheim Fellow in Music Composition 2024 and a Doris Duke Impact Award 2014. Ortiz’s works include “Episodes of an Unforeseen Departure” (2023), premiered by the Harlem Chamber Players; “Piedras de Ida y Vuelta” (2023), premiered by Ensemble Ipse; and “Remaining Tropiques: Then and Now” (2023); the jazz suite “Pastor’s Paradox” (2022), inspired by the political legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., premiered at Teatro Dallas; the multi-disciplinary project “Flamenco Criollo” (2021), premiered at the Flamenco Biennale Nederland; and the score for ballet Santiarican Blues Suite (2011). Ortiz has more than 15 albums as a leader, and has collaborated on more than 30 recordings. As a music researcher and conceptualist, his works express a reverence for the rich diversity present in the music, history, politics, literature, visual arts, oral cultural expressions and traditions of the Afro-descendent communities in the Americas.
Anaïs Maviel (voice and percussion):
Anaïs Maviel is a composer, artist, vocalist & percussionist dedicated to translating spiritual concepts to sensory experiences, using sound as medicine & alchemy. With traditional and experimental approaches, her works investigate the power of sound to shape reality, and emphasize the relevance of cultural hybridity. She navigates song, choral, instrumental, orchestral music and staging with a strong connection to cosmologies of sound and speech rooted in oral traditions such as mantra and ring shout. She strives to bridge the gaps between genres & to create a diverse, inclusive, yet sacred musical experience. Highlights in her collaborations include Alarm Will Sound, Meredith Monk, Craig Taborn, Meshell Ndegeocello, Chiquita Magic & William Parker. She writes, performs and facilitates collective vocal liberation in New York, throughout the Americas and Europe, in concert halls, museums and public spaces. Both solo albums hOULe & in the garden received international acclaim, and among the abundant press shout outs, Jazz Right Now has called her a "unique aesthetic visionary". She is an awardee of the 2019 Van Lier Fellowship, 2020 American Composers Forum Create, 2021-2022 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, 2022 NYFA Artists Fellowship, 2023 New Music USA’s Next Jazz Legacy, and a 2023 Herb Alpert Award in Music nominee. Lastly, she holds a masters degree from Paris Diderot University in modern literature, aesthetics and contemporary thought, which led her to write about the stakes of music & utopia in the creolized world. One can read her poetic essays in the form of intimate newsletters she shares sporadically.
Aliya Ultan (voice, cello):
Aliya Ultan is a composer and cellist from Brooklyn, NY. As a teenager Ultan participated in the New YorkPhilharmonic’s Very Young Composer’s Program where her music was both workshopped and performed atthe Lincoln Center. In 2011 Ultan was accepted to the Interlochen Arts Academy on a full scholarship whereshe studied composition with Dr. Cynthia Van Maanen and cello with Crispin Campbell.
Her musical talent goes beyond the boundaries of conventional classical music. She flawlessly combinesaspects of other genres with her distinctive brand of classical crossover, producing an enthralling andenergetic sound. She has collaborated with musicians based in folk, punk, jazz and classical musics as wellas creative writers with an interest in abstract storytelling. Her capacity to combine traditional melodies withmodern elements demonstrates her versatility as an artist and expands the definition of what classical musiccan be.
Besides her own multi-disciplinary projects, Aliya has worked with the New York Philharmonic, TyshawnSorey, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble, choreographer Teddy Ment, amongmany others. She is a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artists Awardee (2015) and currently serves as a Programdirector for Make Music Cleveland and CREDO Music
Reimagining Tropiques: Then and Now, has been made possible through Jazz & New Music, a program of Villa Albertine and FACE Foundation, with support from the French Ministry of Culture, Institut français, SACEM (Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique) and the CNM (Centre National de la Musique).
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
3111 N Western Ave Chicago IL 60618, 3111 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60618-6409, United States,Chicago, Illinois
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