Celia Cruz and ‘Chan Chan’ Get a String Quartet Sound for Hispanic Heritage Month
Bronx Arts Ensemble musicians perform for an audience during a string quartet program at the University of Mount Saint Vincent. Image Courtesy of Bronx Arts Ensemble
What to Know
BAE's free Hispanic Heritage Month concert runs Sept. 23 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
The program spans 19th-century chamber music, Cuban son, Andean influences, and salsa.
Bronx Arts Ensemble will mark Hispanic Heritage Month with a free string quartet concert that moves from 19th-century Venezuelan chamber music to Cuban son, contemporary Andean-influenced music, and a song made famous by Celia Cruz.
The concert takes place Wednesday, Sept. 23, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the University of Mount Saint Vincent, 6301 Riverdale Ave. Admission is free. The program features violinists Jorge Ávila and Audrey Lo, violist Sally Shumway, and cellist Eliana Mendoza.
A string quartet may sound like something reserved for a formal concert hall. Bronx Arts Ensemble has spent more than five decades making the case that it belongs in Bronx neighborhoods, too.
William J. Scribner and Louise Scribner founded BAE in 1972 with a mission centered on bringing professional orchestral and chamber music to the borough. Early concerts reached places including Van Cortlandt Park, Woodlawn Cemetery, Orchard Beach, and Bronx Community College. The organization now presents more than 50 free or low-cost performances and teaches arts classes in 40 Bronx public schools.
--
Four new markers highlight the architecture, transit growth, and generations of community care behind Longwood’s distinctive Bronx blocks. Read: New markers are helping preserve Longwood’s history.
--
The Sept. 23 program shows how wide that definition of chamber music can become.
It begins with Venezuelan composer and pianist Teresa Carreño's String Quartet in B minor before moving to “Chan Chan,” the Cuban song by Compay Segundo closely associated with Buena Vista Social Club. Gabriela Lena Frank's six-part “Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout” adds music shaped by Andean traditions before the quartet turns to “La Vida Es Un Carnaval,” one of Celia Cruz's best-known recordings.
The contrast is part of what makes the program interesting. Rather than treating Hispanic music as one sound or tradition, the concert places music from different countries, eras, and musical backgrounds into the same four-instrument format.
The musicians also carry some history of their own. Ávila, a longtime BAE artist, served as concertmaster for the orchestra that performed during Pope Francis' televised 2015 Mass at Madison Square Garden. Shumway has been an artist member of Bronx Arts Ensemble since 1991.
This is not BAE's first Hispanic Heritage Month program at Mount Saint Vincent. Its 2025 concert traveled through Latin American music with works associated with Teresa Carreño, Paquito D'Rivera, Astor Piazzolla, Tito Puente, and even a string arrangement of Bad Bunny's “DTMF.”
More than 50 years after BAE began putting professional musicians into Bronx community spaces, the setting and repertoire continue to change. The basic idea has stayed remarkably consistent: make the music accessible, and give Bronx audiences more than one idea of what belongs in a chamber concert.
To learn more about Bronx Arts Ensemble, visit bronxartsensemble.org or follow @bronxartsensemble on Instagram for program updates.
Comments