You're Invited To Music By Living African American Composers Performed By Roosevelt Island Concerts Friday, March 21 At Good Shepherd - Music By Wynton Marsalis, Curtis Stewart & Margaret Evan Bonds

According to Roosevelt Island Concerts:

To our beloved Roosevelt Island Concerts supporters,

We are delighted to invite you to our concert tomorrow, Music by Living African American Composers, on Friday, March 21, at 7:30pm, at Good Shepherd Center, 543 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, NY. This is the first concert in our series Underrepresented Voices, which is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

This concert will feature Wynton Marsalis’ String Quartet, At the Octoroon Balls (1995) which explores American Creole contradictions and compromises— cultural, social, and political— exemplified by life in New Orleans. Along with moments from this work, we will play Curtis Stewart’s The Gilded Cage, a quintet for piano and strings that has its roots in jazz, written in 2023. Stewart describes this piece as “a reflection and meditation on the histories of my family and community.” Here’s a link to Stewart's composition Ye, Who Seek the Truth

The program will also include a solo piano piece Troubled Water (1967), by Margaret Evan Bonds, based on the spiritual “Wade in the Water.” Bonds was the first African American to solo with a major American orchestra and was a lifelong friend and collaborator of poet Langston Hughes. The performers include Yi-heng Yang on piano, Salley Koo and Ralph Allen on violins, Lisa Matricardi on viola, and Iris Jortner on cello.

Suggested donation is $25, $10 for seniors and students.

And as a reminder, our fundraising campaign to match the $20,000 NEA grant for RI Concerts’ 2025 series Underrepresented Voices has begun. DONATE TODAY. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Thank you for joining us in keeping music alive and well in NYC and Roosevelt Island!

Warmly, Yi-heng, Iris, Ralph, Benjamin, and Marc

Your Roosevelt Island Concerts team