Sunday, May 17, 2015, 3 p.m. Tobin Center for the Performing Arts Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater (Click here for Map/Directions) Syrian composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and Syrian-Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad will share “HOME WITHIN” a multimedia project to honor 100,000 victims of the civil war in Syria. With his technique of spontaneous painting—a collaboration in which art and music develop in counterpoint to each other—Mourad has shared the stage with world class musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma and performed globally from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Chess Festival of Mexico City, and the Armenian Center for Contemporary...

Saturday, May 16, 2015, 7:30 p.m. San Fernando Cathedral (Click here for Map/Directions) Born in 1978, in the city of Bogotá, Colombia – Edmar Castaneda has taken the world stage by storm with the sheer force of his virtuosic command. From the German newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “the Colombian plays the harp unlike anyone else on earth. His hands, seemingly powered by two different people, produce a totally unique, symphonic fullness of sound, a rapid-fire of chords, balance of melodic figures and drive, served with euphoric Latin American rhythms, and the improvisatory freedom of a trained jazz musician….” Castaneda is...

It has been a tremendous journey to arrive at this significant point in our history! Musical Bridges Around the World (MBAW) enters its 17th season with a great creative spirit and a year full of spectacular musical projects FREE and open to ALL! The Musical Bridges International Music Festival – our second international music festival will take place between May 14 and May 24, 2015.  It will include one-of-a-kind cross-cultural offerings and will consist of seven concerts in three different venues:  Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater in the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, San Fernando Cathedral and Ruth Taylor Recital Hall at Trinity...

Thursday, May 14, 2015, 7:30 p.m. San Fernando Cathedral (click here for map/directions) Artist Bios “LATINA” embodies a journey of self discovery by Cristina Pato & Co. exploring heights and hurdles of the life and migrations of a Latin woman. “’Latina’ is purely and simply the result of years of searching for my own voice and my place as an artist,” says Pato.  In 2004, Jean Bechhofer of the BBC said “Cristina Pato the Galician Bagpipe diva is renowned for her dramatic performances, but what counts is her skill and familiarity with that octopus of an instrument, the gaita.” Program LATINA a self-search – a program by Cristina...

Friday, May 22, 2015, 7:30 p.m. Tobin Center for the Performing Arts River Walk Plaza (click here for map/directions)  Artist Bios After smashing successes in Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and Mexico, Barynya is coming to San Antonio! With its bright costumes, fairy music and unparalleled sophistication of Russian dance school a group of six dancers and five musicians will invite San Antonio visitors and locals into the world of colorful Russian fairytales. The program will include iconic Dark Eyes, Long Road, Moscow Nights, Kalinka and many others. “…Beautiful performance helped make the Global Festival such a memorable...

Sunday, May 17, 2015, 3:00 p.m. Tobin Center for the Performing Arts Alvarez Studio (click here for map/directions)  Artist Bios An All-Star International Team of virtuosos will give you the colorful classics you love and a lot more! Gold Medalist of the 2014 Van Cliburn Competition, Ukrainian born pianist Vadym Kholodenko and Tchaikovsky Competition winner Russian born cellist, Boris Andrianov will be joined by Grammy Award winner American percussionist and member of Yo-Yo-Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Shane Shanahan in a world premier of “Triptych,” an innovative work exploring ethnic connections. “…the 27-year-old Ukrainian...

Thursday, May 21, 2015, 7:30 p.m. San Fernando Cathedral (click here for map/directions) Artist Bios After sold-out, standing-ovation performances at the Celebrity Series of Boston and Lincoln Center, composer and bandoneon player par excellence, JP Jofre will make his Musical Bridges Around the World debut on May 21, 2015 with music by Astor Piazzolla, his own acclaimed compositions and a WORLD PREMIER tango-ballet piece with Grammy award nominated The St. Petersburg String Quartet and renown Argentinean dancer Choreographer Claudio Asprea from Buenos Aires. “The Argentine bandoneon artfully played by JP Jofre” -The New York...

Wednesday, May 20, 2015, 7:30 p.m. Tobin Center for the Performing Arts Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater (click here for map/directions)  Artist Bios Entreflamenco, founded by Antonio Granjero in 1998 in Madrid, Spain is “…the Baryshnikov of Spanish Dance” according to WQXR of New York City. Carolina Betancourt of Texas Art Magazine wrote “Granjero lays it all on the line and with every complex footwork combination, turn and finger snap, he shows you exactly who he is and how Flamenco breaths within him. At times he is so forceful and unrelenting that audience members can feel the power behind the golpe. Then, just like that, he engages...

Saturday, May 23, 2015, 7:30 p.m. Tobin Center for the Performing Arts River Walk Plaza (click here for...

Friday, May 15, 2015, 7:30 p.m. Tobin Center for the Performing Arts Carlos Alvarez Studio  Artist Bios Featuring Vijay Iyer: MacArthur Genius Fellow, Harvard Music Professor and Grammy nominated jazz pianist with the award-winning Brentano String Quartet of the Yale School of Music. Best known as a jazz pianist, Iyer has released 17 albums, and in 2012 was named jazz artist of the year by Down Beat magazine. The New Yorker dubbed him “extravagantly gifted” and “brilliantly eclectic.” In the work titled “Time, Place, Action,” stylistically speaking, Iyer draws on everything from hard-bop jazz, to Indian ragas...

Born and raised in Argentina, Claudio Asprea’s dance background includes classical ballet (Colon Theater Superior Institute of Art – I.S.A.  – Buenos Aires, Argentina) and modern dance (Taller de Danza Contemporanea del Teatro San Martin de Buenos Aires).  He started his argentine tango training in Buenos Aires in 1988.  In 1990 Mr. Asprea joined Argentine Theater Ballet Company of La Plata, the second most important lyric opera house in Argentina.  Mr. Asprea was the guest performer and argentine tango master teacher at both the The Official USA Championship & USA TANGO FESTIVAL, in San Francisco, CA, from April 17 to...