GRAMMY-winning Cuban-born composer, drummer, educator, and MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, Dafnis Prieto, is proud to premiere his new orchestral work, Tentación (Temptation)!
Prieto will present his Concerto for Latin Band and String Orchestra over five performances in the coming months in Louisville, Kentucky; Miami; and Jacksonville, Oregon (full schedule below).
The work will be performed by virtuoso NYC-based Latin band People of Earth and orchestras including the Louisville Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the Britt Festival Orchestra. Music director Teddy Abrams will conduct.
In this compositional work for string orchestra, Prieto fuses Cuban timba music, Latin Jazz, and contemporary classical music, connecting musical traditions from throughout the Americas and creating an infectious dance energy onstage. He traverses a variety of musical styles in the piece, including the Cuban Danzón, Guanguancó Afro-Cuban drumming, Salsa, Mambo, Rap, and improvisation. Tentación consists of a single extended movement whose individual episodes — some dances, some songs or choruses, some improvised segments — proceed without pause.
Prieto writes: “Tentación is a love story, or better said an imaginary love story driven by the powerful law of attraction. The seductive quality that makes us dream for a better and happy future inside and around ourselves, diving into a vast range of feelings and emotions. This story involves many sides of an imaginary, but at the same time, real relationship: the sweet, the bitter, the similarities, the differences, the conversations, the advice, the challenges, the suggestions, the ups and downs. It involves real senses caused by the imaginary state of willing, of dreaming and desire. The music reflects in sounds and lyrics two words — real and imaginary — i.e. the real, provoked by the imaginary state.”
Tentación is also a celebration of life, exploring the joy of attraction in a broader sense. “It’s about the will to connect and love one another in our shared humanity.” Prieto wrote both text and music for Tentación. His lyrics shift between English and Spanish, in order to connect with broader audiences.
Commissioned by The Louisville Orchestra, Britt Festival Orchestra, New Music USA, Hazard Productions, and People of Earth.
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PERFORMANCES
Friday, March 4, 11AM EST
Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts | Louisville, KY
Dafnis Prieto 'Tentación' World Premiere by People of Earth & The Louisville Orchestra with Teddy Abrams, Conductor
Pre-concert discussion with Dafnis Prieto at 10AM!
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Saturday, March 5, 8PM EST
Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts | Louisville, KY
Dafnis Prieto 'Tentación' World Premiere by People of Earth & The Louisville Orchestra with Teddy Abrams, Conductor
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Saturday, April 9, 8PM EDT
New World Center | Miami Beach, FL
Dafnis Prieto 'Tentación' Miami Premiere by People of Earth & The New World Symphony with Teddy Abrams, Conductor
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Sunday, April 10, 2PM EDT
New World Center | Miami Beach, FL
Dafnis Prieto 'Tentación' Miami Premiere by People of Earth & The New World Symphony with Teddy Abrams, Conductor
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Sunday, July 3, 8PM PDT
Britt Festival Pavilion | Jacksonville, OR
Dafnis Prieto 'Tentación' Premiere at Britt Music & Arts Festival by People of Earth & The Britt Festival Orchestra with Teddy Abrams, Conductor
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Photo Credits (clockwise from top left): Dafnis Prieto by Henry Lopez. Teddy Abrams courtesy of Louisville Orchestra. People of Earth courtesy of Artist.