On October 7 Musical Bridges Around the World in San Antonio opens it’s 15th season with the concert “Fusion of the Worlds”, which will bring together musicians, performers on ethnic instruments from around the world. “Musical Bridges” through it’s multicultural programing connects different genres, styles and artists, including many members of the Russian music traditions. This season, Musical Bridges invites musicians Igudesman and Joo. The world’s best musical pranksters; violinist Aleksey Igudesman from St. Petersburg and British born Korean pianist Richard Hyung Joo, present the program...
Upcoming Concert – Viva la Cuba
Our next concert will be part of the: Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral Sunday evenings at 6:30pm FREE and Open to the Public! 115 Main Plaza, in the oldest cathedral in the nation, right in the heart of downtown San Antonio October 5, 2014 – Viva la Cuba Featuring a sizzling virtuoso quintet with a potpourri of Popurrí – the Habaneros are direct from Havana and will dazzle you with hot Latin American and Western classics. Click here for...
Strange Frenzy: The Dance of the Seven Veils
World Premiere — December 12, 2010 “There is a strange frenzy in my head, of birds flying, each particle circulating on its own. Is the one I love everywhere?” — Rumi, 13th c. Persian poet Of the piece that Jack Stamps is writing for world premiere during Arabian Nights, the composer writes “Though the Dance of the Seven Veils (purported to have been danced by Salome) isn’t part of Middle Eastern dancing tradition, my suite of 7 miniature dances for each of the veils conveys the point that such dances reflect the West’s fascination with and sensationalization of other cultures. I am inspired to continue an...
Encore – Violin Favorites
Played by Mark Cheiket, violin and Elena Portnaya, piano Sunday, November 28, 2010 at 6:30 PM – FREE and Open to the Public Historic San Fernando Cathedral 115 Main Plaza, downtown San Antonio...
Videos of Past Musical Bridges Productions
MBAW was founded in 1998 by Russian-born pianist, Dr. Anya Grokhovski. Anya’s fiery passion for music, commitment to San Antonio, and connections to world-class musicians provided a platform for the creation of an exciting new musical experience in San Antonio. With the avid support of a group of local music lovers, Anya designed a series of salon concerts in private residences. By 1999, programming extended to San Fernando Cathedral, and in 2000 to McAllister Auditorium. MBAW’s Board of Directors plays an active leadership role, creating a strategic plan focused on exemplifying San Antonio’s cultural diversity through excellent...
Edwin Colon Zayas
Appearing on Main Stage during Baroque Opera with Salsa Sauce October 3, 2010 and with Kids to Concerts the following week Edwin Colón Zayas is known internationally as the master of the cuatro, the national instrument of Puerto Rico. The cuatro, shaped like a small guitar with five double-coursed strings, became the preferred instrument for performing música jíbara (music of the peasants), heard in the small central-island towns of Puerto Rico. Colón Zayas began playing cuatro at the age of five, learning from his father. He in turn tutored his brother and two sisters in several jíbaro instruments, and they often join him in his group...
Mercury Baroque
Appearing on Main Stage during Baroque Opera with Salsa Sauce October 3, 2010 Based in Houston TX, Mercury Baroque’s participating musicians play authentic period music on historically appropriate instruments. Mercury Baroque’s highly imaginative programming includes both concerts and fully-staged operas. Mercury will reprise its last season’s ground-breaking Houston production of Lully’s opera Armide with 5 performances in Paris in September, 2010 immediately preceding performance of “La Serva Padrona” for us. Mercury has an educational outreach program that includes classroom music education in under-served elementary...
Nordic Singers Live – June 16, 2010
The Nordic Singers In Concert Live North America 2010 tour came to San Antonio. Our friends at Instituto Cultural de Mexico allowed MBAW to use their acoustically superior auditorium in Hemisfair Park to present this one-night-only event, sponsored by Copenhagen Contemporary Furniture, Instituto Cultural de Mexico, Yellow Rose Bed & Breakfast, and YouandIFinancial. Where: Mexican Cultural Institute, 600 Hemisfair Plaza Way When: June 16, 2010, 7 PM The Program: Act I: Arias and Duets from La Bohëme, La Traviata, Madame Butterfly, and Carmen Act II: Songs from the Nordic countries, Musicals & Operettas About The Nordic Singers Knud...
January 23 “Lilya Zilberstein and the Israeli Chamber Project”
Sunday, 3:00 PM, McAllister Auditorium, on the campus of San Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro Plenty of free parking. Box Office opens 2:00 PM. Seating at 2:40 PM. World-famous concert pianist Lilya Zilberstein opens the program, performing Appasionata by Beethoven and Variations Brillantes by Chopin for us, before starring with the San Antonio Symphony the following weekend. Lilya will also present masterclasses at Trinity University and UTSA; all appearances are sponsored by Carol Lee Klose and Carolyn A. Seale. Then we are thrilled to introduce The Israeli Chamber Project to San Antonio audiences. This group brings together the finest...
February 20 “The Nicholas Payton SeXXXtet”
Sunday, 3:00 PM at McAllister Auditorium, on the campus of San Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro Plenty of free parking. Box Office opens 2:00 PM. Seating at 2:40 PM. Since 1994 when Nicholas Payton made his recording debut as a leader, the trumpeter has been lauded as a significant, top-tier voice in jazz. Even though he started out as a “young lion of jazz,” heralded as one of the new-generation guardians of the hard bop flame, Payton consistently committed himself to discovering his voice outside of the strict confines of that rearview mirror approach to the music. Payton was born into a musical family (he remembers sitting under the piano...
May 8 “Tchaikovsky Birthday Bash”
Sunday, 3:00 PM at McAllister Auditorium, on the campus of San Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro Plenty of free parking. Box Office opens 2:00 PM. Seating at 2:40 PM. As part of the city-wide celebration of Tchaikovsky’s 171st birth year, Musical Bridges presents Houston Grand Opera stars, singing a fabulous selection of this Russian Romantic composer’s arias. The celebration continues, featuring dancers from New York City, Russian-trained members of the popular folk ensemble...
October 3 “Baroque Opera With Salsa Sauce (Edwin Colon Zayas)”
Sunday, 3 PM at McAllister Auditorium, on the campus of San Antonio College, 1300 San Pedro Plenty of free parking. Box Office opens 2 PM. Seating at 2:40 PM Mercury Baroque, a chamber ensemble from Houston, performs the opera “La Serva Padrona” by Giovanni Pergolesi staged with period costumes and furniture. Then, Edwin Colon Zayas—National Endowment for the Arts award-winning master of the Puerto Rican cuatro national instrument—creates a fiery blend of native folk and dance music, and salsa with Sabor a Cultura, a group of musically-gifted youngsters from Cayey, Puerto...
About the Performers (2012-2013)
The City of San Antonio boasts an array of Texas’s most diverse artistic sensibilities, religious beliefs, and ethnicities. Anya Grokhovski, our Artistic Director, scours the planet to find musicians whose exceptional talent communicates the uniting spirit of all of our sensibilities, across the expanses of time and world geography. Yes, our concerts present some noted, “world-renowned” artists. But what makes for fame in today’s mass media is not necessarily a skilled performer on an instrument or voice—flash, glitz, even outrage is what attracts attention. The sizzle. So you have probably never heard of many of...