#PickoftheWeek | Superstars from Cuba and Puerto Rico offer concerts in Flushing
BY QEDC It's In Queens
After considering the two Caribbean islands’ similar geography, history, and culture, poet Lola Rodríguez de Tió wrote that “Cuba and Puerto Rico are two wings from the same bird” in 1893. Well, it looks like that bird is flying to Flushing with two music legends under it wings this weekend.
Havana-born Paquito D’Rivera, a saxophonist and clarinetist who has won 14 Grammy Awards, will perform at Flushing Town Hall on Friday, Oct. 26, at 8 pm. Then Gilberto Santa Rosa, a Puerto Rican salsa singer with six Grammys, will put on a show at Queens College’s Kupferberg Center for the Arts on Saturday, Oct. 27, at 8 pm.
D’Rivera (below photo) is a National Endowment for the Arts jazz master who is also celebrated as a classical composer. He’s recorded more than 30 solo albums and performed around the world, sharing the stage with such diverse groups as the London Philharmonic, Yo-Yo Ma, the Bronx Arts Ensemble, and his own quintets and ensembles.
On Friday, he’ll jam with pianist John di Martino, who has the nickname “shape shifter” because of his creativity across genres, and di Martino’s trio. They’ll do music by Billy Strayhorn, a deceased jazz composer, lyricist, and arranger whose most famous song is “Take the ‘A’ Train.”
Tickets are $25, but students with proper identification get $5 discounts, and teenagers can attend for free as part of an ongoing promotion. Flushing Town Hall is at 137-35 Northern Blvd.
Santa Rosa (above photo), who is known as “El Caballero de la Salsa,” has recorded about 20 Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum albums, including various songs that made number one on Billboard’s Latin and Tropical charts. He was a special guest for the musical revival “Forever Tango” on Broadway in 2013.
Tickets range from $42 to $109, but Queens College students with CUNY ID get 10 percent discounts. The concert is scheduled for the Colden Auditorium at 153-49 Reeves Ave.
Images of Santa Rosa are from his Facebook page; the D’Rivera image is courtesy of Flushing Town Hall
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