Carnegie Bound! The Alonso Brothers & America at 250
Time & Place
Date: Friday, Sep. 19, 2025
Time: 7:30 PM
Timashev Hall at OSU: 1900 College Rd, Columbus, OH, 43210
GUEST PARKING ▪ Preferred —Ohio Union South Garage (open 24/7 to visitors) closest to the South entrance.
About
This is not just a concert — it is a sonic journey of two nations, two brothers, and one indelible rhythm of freedom and invention.
We are proud to open the Music at St. Mary season with a special preview of The Alonso Brothers’ upcoming Carnegie Hall debut in 2026, presented in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
From Havana’s rumba halls to Harlem’s jazz clubs, Cuban and American music have danced together for over a century. In this bicentennial tribute, The Alonso Brothers — Cuban-born pianists and lifelong collaborators — trace that vibrant dialogue of migration, memory, resistance, and joy.
The program begins with the nostalgic music of Ignacio Cervantes and Ernesto Lecuona — works shaped in exile, written on American soil as these composers found refuge and a new voice far from home. That tradition continues with contemporary Cuban-born, American-naturalized composers Manuel Valera and Jorge Gómez, whose driving rhythms and lyricism speak to the immigrant experience today.
From there, the music crosses the Straits into the American soundscape — where Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Leonard Bernstein, Gershwin all bear the unmistakable imprint of Caribbean rhythm and influence.
Together, these works reveal a bilingual, bicultural symphony of the Americas — a celebration not only of anniversaries, but of the shared musical DNA that binds Havana to New York.
Program:
I. Echoes of Cuba
• Manuel Valera – Centenario (2024) ~8 min
• Jorge Gómez – Para Ti ~5 min
• Ernesto Lecuona – La Comparsa ~4 min
• Ernesto Lecuona – Gitanerías ~5 min
• Ignacio Cervantes – Adiós a Cuba~3 min
• Ernesto Lecuona – Y la negra bailaba ~4 min
• Dámaso Pérez Prado – Mambo No. 5 ~3 min
II. Rhythms of America
• Tito Puente – Oye Como Va ~4 min
• Leonard Bernstein – Mambo from West Side Story ~3 min
• Aaron Copland – Danzon Cubano ~ 6 min
• Leonard Bernstein – America from West Side Story ~5 min