Name: The Trombone Music of Carolina Calvache
Start: 2025-11-05T19:30:00-06:00
Location: All Faiths/Danforth Chapel

This recital features guest artist Dr. Zach Davis (Texas Women's University) on bass trombone and K-State faculty members Dr. Dan Hinman (trombone) and Amanda Arrington (piano) performing the music of Dr. Carolina Calvache.
Presented as part of the QuVee Mock Masterclass Series (k-state.edu/mtd/mock).
Dr. Calvache is a Colombian composer and jazz pianist who was just recently appointed Assistant Professor of Jazz and Commercial music at the University of Central Missouri. This residency is a part of the (second) premiere of her trombone concerto 'Hojarasca' with the Salina Symphony Orchestra on November 9, 2025.
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Carolina Calvache, a Pan-American composer, seamlessly blends sounds influenced by jazz, classical, and Latin American folk music. Carolina has been engaging in and evolving a global music exchange that spans from her native Cali, Colombia, to New York City, and more recently, to the vibrant Caribbean sounds of Miami. An award-winning composer, celebrated jazz pianist, inspiring educator, and New World Symphony ambassador, she is deeply committed to fostering collaboration within the global music community.
Winner of the 16th Independent Music Awards for her song, “La Última Vez” featuring Camila Meza, Carolina has been making waves since her selection for the 2011 Mary Lou Williams Woman in Jazz Festival, where her talent garnered attention at The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Legendary pianist and composer, Toshiko Akiyoshi, has hailed her music as “Extraordinary and Marvelous.”
Drawing from diverse influences, Carolina’s music encompasses a wide range of genres. Her repertoire includes solo pieces, duets, chamber music, studio orchestra, and jazz big band compositions. Carolina is well-known for her trombone pieces, ranging from classical commissions to jazz pieces, including chamber works for brass that premiered at the Trombone and Trumpet International Festival. One notable commission include “Trombonsillo,” which was recorded in the album, Ethereal by Canadian Brass Trombonist, Achilles Liarmakopoulos . The piece experienced worldwide success, became a standard in the trombone repertoire, and it is currently one of the required pieces for the Associate Board of Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM). Other noteworthy commissions include “Uncertainty,” commissioned by Jennifer Wharton and her group Bonegasm, “Encuentros,” commissioned by Qatar Philharmonic member Sebastian Cifuentes; “Caminos,” written for Cleveland Orchestra musician Shachar Israel; “Latin American Street Scenes,” commissioned by Boston University Professor Don Lucas; and her latest piece, “Comienzos,” commissioned by “Slides in Harmony” and a cohort of twenty university professors as co-commissioners. Her upcoming orchestral work for trombone is set to premiere with the Jackson Symphony Orchestra and Denis Jiron in March 2025.
Moreover, Carolina has written art songs for piano and lyric soprano commissioned by Anima Mundi Productions and a piece for baritone and violin for the Gabriela Lena Frank Academy. Her piano solo works are also included in the book Antologia de compositoress Vallecaucanos, Obras para piano, published by the University of Valle in Cali, Colombia. Her chamber works have been premiered worldwide at prestigious institutions such as the Juilliard School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, the New World Symphony, the Newport Music Festival, and Gravissimo Festival, among others.