CreArtBox Assembles International Roster For 2nd Annual Music Festival In Long Island City

Long Island City-based performing arts organization, CreArtBox, announces its second annual music festival. The festival strives to present classical and contemporary music in a modern way, using eclectic programming and a strong visual component to engage and enthuse audience members. Taking place during three evenings across Labor Day Weekend (August 30th - September 1st), the festival will be hosted at the 12,000 square foot Plaxall Gallery (5-25 46th Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101).

This edition is presented in collaboration with LIC Artists and supported by the Queens Council on the Arts and the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain. Last year CreArtBox hosted a sold-out classical music festival that celebrated the vibrant and growing community of LIC by bringing great music to a new and younger audience.

Directed by flutist Guillermo Laporta and pianist Josefina Urraca, this edition features performances of both classic and new repertoire accompanied by theatre design, dance, and video projection, including Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, Wei Dai's Mandalas in the Rubble, Mendelssohn, Haydn & Rorem' piano trios, and the world premiere of Two Roads, an interdisciplinary chamber opera for mezzo-soprano, physical actor, choir, dance ensemble, electronics, piano, percussion, and a movable set.

Queens-based organization CreArtBox presents an array of International Artists including violinist Adelya Nartadjieva, cellist Julia Yang, clarinetist Jonathan Cohen, flutist Guillermo Laporta, pianist Josefina Urraca, theater director & choreographer Tagore Gonzalez, set & costume designer Isis de Coura, and a cast of 7 dancers, physical actors, and singers.

Tickets are on sale at www.creartbox.nyc. The price for each performance is $25. A $60 premium weekend pass is also available which includes premium seating for all 3 concerts, a free drink at each concert, and a personal thank you gift from the artists.

These performances open the CreArtBox 2019/20 season, that will continue with a residency at the Renee Weiler Concert Hall and the DiMenna Center, a full-stage production at The Tank Theater, and multiple performances in Boston, Chicago, and Tokyo. Season highlights include Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, Maurice Ravel's Introduction and Allegro, Sebastian Currier's Remix, Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, and the world premieres of three newly commissioned pieces by Wei Dai, Evan O. Adams, and Brian Shank.

Friday, August 30th at 8:00 p.m.

CONCERT 01 MEMORIES

At the opening concert of CreArtBox's 2019 music festival, Julia Yang, Josefina Urraca, and Guillermo Laporta present three different takes on the classic piano trio from three different musical eras. The program will move from the dramatic romanticism of Felix B. Mendelssohn to the high classicism of Joseph Haydn, and conclude with the intensity of Ned Rorem's 1960 work for the ensemble. This opening night showcases the eclecticism of CreArtBox's programming and the versatility of their performers and will take place on Friday, August 30th at 8:00 p.m.

Felix B. Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)

Piano trio op.49

Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

Piano trio in D Major, Hob. XV:16

Ned Rorem (1923 - )

Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano

Saturday, August 31st at 8:00 p.m.

CONCERT 02 END OF TIMES

CreArtBox presents two works brimming with hope despite being steeped in tragedy by French composer Olivier Messiaen and Chinese composer Wei Dai. Written while a prisoner in a German prisoner-of-war camp in the midst of World War II and premiered by his fellow prisoners and himself, Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time confronts the reality of some of the darkest moments in our history while remaining hopeful through his own deeply-held religious beliefs. Ms. Dai's Mandalas in the Rubble examines the natural destruction of many of Nepal's temples at the hands of an earthquake in 2015 and celebrates that many Nepali people continuing to worship among

the rubble with a genuine sense of hope. Adelya Nartadjieva, Julia Yang, Jonathan Cohen, and Josefina Urraca will perform this emotionally weighted program on Saturday, August 31st at 8:00 p.m.

Wei Dai (1989 - )

Mandalas in the Rubble

Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992)

Quartet for the End of Time

Sunday, September 1st at 8:00 p.m.

CONCERT 03 TWO ROADS

This collaboration between the composer, musicians, choreographer, and designers sees its World-premiere on the final night on CreArtBox's music festival. Featuring a mezzo-soprano, a physical actor, a choir, a dance ensemble, electronics, piano, percussion, and a movable set, this work will conclude the weekend. Though framed as a chamber opera, Two Roads wholeheartedly embraces its interdisciplinary nature, following a parallel creative process that showcases each aspect in earnest and displays CreArtBox at its best. Guillermo Laporta, Tagore Gonzalez, Isis de Coura, and Josefina Urraca present this final program on Sunday, September 1st at 8:00 p.m.

Creative Team:

Concept, music, and dramaturgy by

Guillermo Laporta

Scene direction and choreography by

Tagore Gonzalez

Set and costume design by

Isis de Coura

Music direction by

Josefina Urraca

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About CreArtBox:

Founded in 2013, CreArtBox is a Queens-based music organization that builds platforms to generate live art performances and collaborate with world-class artists and ensembles.

CreArtBox presents new and traditional music repertoire in intimate concert settings and through full-scale, multidisciplinary productions that incorporate innovative visual and multimedia designs. The group's core regularly functions as a flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano music ensemble, but holds a roster of over twenty NYC-based soloists, composers, choreographers, actors, and designers.

The organization engages and educates communities by presenting a variety of programs including CreArt Music series in Manhattan, CreArt Music Festival in Queens, the educational program CreArtED, a printed performing arts magazine, a commissioned composers program, and international touring productions.

The group has been presented at venues such as Queens Theatre, Le Poisson Rouge, DiMenna Center, Spectrum, Flamboyan Theater, New York for Ethical Culture, The Tank Theater, National Opera Center, Steinway Hall, Cervantes Institute, Renee Weiler Concert Hall, Bay Ridge Concert Hall, Anthology Film Archives, The Grinton I. Will Library, with other performances in Artisphere Theater, (Washington DC), and Tapp Center (Columbia, South Carolina). CreArtBox's collaborators include violinist Todd Reynolds, composer and video artist Luke DuBois, bandoneonist JP Jofre, violist Nathan Schram, conductor and flutist Ransom Wilson, soprano Janna Baty, clarinetist Anton Rist, percussionists Victor Caccese and Doug Perry, Le Train Bleu Ensemble, Argento Ensemble, New Vintage Baroque, lighting design Jennifer Fok, musicologist Lewis Lockwood, and composers Judd Greenstein, Sebastian Currier, Meredith Monk, Anna Clyne, Timo Andres, David Lang, Joshua Penman, Marcos Fernandez, Bryce Dessner, and Martin Bresnick, among others.

About LIC-A

Long Island City Artists, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit arts advocacy organization founded in 1986 by artists in Long Island City. In October of 2016, Plaxall Inc., generously donated a 12,000 sq ft warehouse space to temporarily serve as a fine art gallery and performing arts venue with the intention of creating an exciting and vibrant fine arts community center. LIC-A presents monthly exhibitions, art classes, theatrical productions, dance, and music performances and special events. LIC-A supports the community by providing space to the local PTA, Girl Scout troops, LaGuardia ESL classes, artists in need of work and performance space and much more. (www.licartists.org)