Program / Event Details

Raíces Negras – Spirits of Nature, American Women Composers

Join us for a chamber music concert celebrating four innovative and prominent American women composers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Spotlighting the flute, cello, and piano, each work explores an element of nature and the spirits that dwell within, ranging from the Negro spirituals in Undine Smith Moore’s “Afro-American Suite,” the motions and gestures of the beach in Tania León’s “Sands of Time,” a day in the life of the Papua New Guinean rainforest in Elisenda Fábregas’s “Voices of the Rainforest,” or the avant-garde timbral illusions and mythical imagery of Clarice Assad’s world-premiere commission entitled “Flight of the Fairies.” The program focuses on universal thematic material, told by talented voices from diverse backgrounds. While the storytelling of Moore and Fábregas is much more literal and accessible, the illustrative atmospheres from Assad and Leön are stark, evocative, and ambiguous. Within these musical works, audiences will discover and enjoy the worldly and otherworldly soundscapes these composers can elicit.

Backline: Piano Needed

Performers

Dr. Ceylon Mitchell, flute
Erin Snedecor, cello
Dr. Elizabeth Hill, piano

Sample Repertoire

Tania León (Cuban-American) – Arenas D’un Tiempo (1992) – 12min
Elisenda Fábregas (Spanish-American) – Voices of the Rainforest (2008) – 23min
Clarice Assad (Brazilian-American) – Flight of the Fairies (2024, world-premiere commission) – 4min
Undine Eliza Anna Smith Moore (African-American) – Afro-American Suite (1969) – 13min

Fees are for daytime school programs in Maryland, Washington, DC, and northern Virginia only.

Evening, weekend, workshop, and non-school fees differ – please contact us.

Additional travel fees apply.

About Ceylon Mitchell

Flutist Dr. Ceylon Mitchell II leads the modern Cuban charanga ensemble Raíces Negras in an homage to the beloved Cuban music group Orquesta Aragón and its songwriter, Richard “La Flauta Mágica” Egües. The performance features danzón classics like “Almendra” and “Pare Cochero,” showcasing the fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms and European classical instruments. A celebration of traditional Cuban forms and Latin jazz, Mitchell and the award-winning musicians of Raíces Negras bring audiences of all ages to their feet.

Biography

The Woodwinds Department Chair with Levine Music, Dr. Ceylon Mitchell II serves the arts ecosystem as a multi-hyphenate arts leader: contemporary classical flutist, educator, and entrepreneur. On a mission to celebrate marginalized identities in music, especially Black and Latine voices, his diverse repertoire spans from Western European classical to living cultural traditions across the Americas, along with everything in between.

Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, Dr. Mitchell earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Maryland School of Music under the tutelage of Dr. Sarah Frisof. He has performed in venues such as Boston’s Symphony Hall, the Music Center at Strathmore, the Arts Club of Washington, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with Robert Glasper.