FIU Music Festival to include disaster relief concerts


 

Paquito D’Rivera (left) and Nestor Torres (right).

Grammy Winners Nestor Torres and Paquito D’ Rivera, New World Symphony and FIU Symphony Orchestra perform to raise money for Caribbean and Mexico victims

Top local, national and international performers will take the stage at the FIU Music Festival to support those affected by recent disasters in the Caribbean and Mexico.

The festival – nine concerts – will feature classical, early music, jazz and Latin jazz artists and take place Nov. 3 – 18 at the Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center, 10910 SW 17th St., on FIU’s MMC in West Miami-Dade County.

On Friday, Nov. 3 at 7:30 p.m., Grammy winners Nestor Torres and Paquito D’Rivera, and the New World Symphony will headline a relief concert, featuring an evening of jazz classics. Proceeds will go to the FIU Disaster Response and Recovery Fund to help support FIU students, faculty and staff whose families may find themselves in financial distress due to hurricanes Irma and Maria. One hundred percent of the money raised through this fund will help those impacted.

The FIU School of Music will close the festival on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. with a Hispanic heritage salute, celebrating the richness and varied rhythms and melodies of Latin American music. The FIU Symphony Orchestra will perform, conducted by FIU’s new orchestral director, Javier Jose Mendoza. Proceeds from this event will benefit earthquake relief in Mexico.

Other artist and ensembles that will participate in the festival include the Amernet String Quartet, Kemal Gekic, Denis Brott, Jerry Bergonzi and Andy Laverne Duo, Guillermo Figueroa, Raúl Prieto Ramírez, Robert Davidovici, Grand Harmonie, and the New York-based Continuum Ensemble. For a full lineup, please click here.

Tickets are on sale now. Donations also can be given at the door or online throughout the festival.

The FIU Music Festival is presented by the FIU School of Music and funded in part by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.

For tickets, please visit http://carta.fiu.edu/music/concerts-news/fiu-music-festival/ticketing/ or call 305-348-0496.

For more information, please visit musicfestival.fiu.edu.