Aldo López-Gavilán in Concert Wednesday at Faulkner Center

José V Gavilondo

Aldo Lopéz-Gavilán, pianist

The U of A Department of Music presents what promises to be an extraordinary piano concert with Cuban pianist and composer Aldo López-Gavilan at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, in the Faulkner Performing Arts Center on campus.  Lopéz-Gavilán is an artist with his feet in two worlds, acclaimed for both his mastery of the Afro-Cuban jazz tradition as well as his stunning interpretations of the classical piano repertoire. The concert is part of the department's Bridging Differences series.

López-Gavilán has collaborated with some of the greatest artists in the classical, popular music and jazz fields, including Wynton Marsalis, Chucho Valdés, Arturo Sandoval, Dave Matthews, Jackson Browne, Claudio Abbado and Joshua Bell.

The Washington Post wrote of one of his concerts, "López-Gavilán's superb pianism rocked the house."

Thanks to support from the McIlroy Endowment for the Performing Arts, tickets are free! Register for your free tickets or get tickets at the door, if available.

To celebrate López-Gavilán's visit, the Department of Music is also presenting a free screening of the documentary The Brothers, about Aldo and his brother Ilmar, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, in the Arkansas Union's room 424 Union Theater. Here is a description of the film:

Virtuoso Afro-Cuban-born brothers—violinist Ilmar and pianist Aldo—live on opposite sides of a geopolitical chasm a half-century wide. Tracking their parallel lives in New York and Havana, their poignant reunion and their momentous first performances together, Los Hermanos/The Brothers offers a nuanced, often startling view of estranged nations through the lens of music and family.

Featuring an electrifying, genre-bending score, composed by Cuban Aldo López-Gavilán, performed with his American brother, Ilmar, and with guest appearances by maestro Joshua Bell and the Harlem Quartet.