Percussia to Present BROADWAY BOOGIE-WOOGIE At Manhattan’s Christ & St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

In a rare Manhattan concert performance, the innovative Queens-based ensemble Percussia will present the World Premiere of Frank Cassara Broadway Boogie-Woogie on Monday, May 11 at 7:30 PM at Christ & St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 122 W. 69th St. in Manhattan.

They'll also perform Portals of Light new composition by Tom Nazziola, Play of Hands by the Grammy award-winning Pedro Giraudo and Seth Bedford's song cycle Canciones Para Medusa.

Mr. Nazziola's commission is funded by a Classical Commissioning: A Responsive Shift grant, funded by Chamber Music America, with generous support from the Sewell Family Foundation.

Cassara has written this about his new work, which was commissioned with a New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Grant:

"Hanging at the Museum of Modern Art is a painting by Piet Mondrian titled Broadway Boogie-Woogie, a vibrant grid of colored lines and rectangles that evokes the constant motion of Manhattan traffic. The rhythm and pulse of the city seem to radiate from the canvas, and this visual energy serves as the inspiration for my composition of the same name.

Broadway Boogie-Woogie is a piece that is always in motion, just like city traffic. Sometimes rushing, sometimes slowing, sometimes stopping abruptly, the work captures the chaos and pacing of an urban commute. Structured in sections that reflect the unpredictable stop-and-go rhythm of city driving, the piece follows the journey of a car weaving through Manhattan's ever-changing flow of traffic."

Performers will be Percussia members Ingrid Gordon and Frank Cassara, percussion, harpist Susan Jolles, flutist Margaret Lancaster and violist Lev (Ljova) Zhurbin. Special guest artist will be Melissa Fogarty, soprano.

Percussia's performance is free and open to the public. Christ & St. Stephen's Episcopal Church is ADA accessible. For MTA transportation information, visit https://www.mta.info/.