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Discover the sounds of the marimba and Afro-Latin percussion as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a recorded concert on SCLSNJ's YouTube channel.
* Use this link to join our virtual program: SCLSNJ YouTube Channel
The Rutgers Afro-Cuban Percussion Ensemble was created in 2009 to develop different points of view regarding percussion music and facilitate the learning of traditional Afro-Cuban and Afro-Latin music. Since its creation, we have put together many performances encompassing a vast array of styles and genres within Afro-Latin percussion as a whole. Our work introduces the study of improvisation, arrangement, and composition using the tools made available to us by the in-depth exploration of traditional Afro-Cuban/Afro-Latin music. The Rutgers Afro-Cuban Percussion Ensemble seeks to build connections between the study of classical percussion, the study of improvised and semi-improvised percussion music, and the general topic of groove.
Javier Diaz, director.
Javier Diaz is a percussionist with the American Symphony Orchestra and with several chamber music groups and Latin music groups in the New York Area. He has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York Perspectives Ensemble, Zankel Hall New Music Band, Hilliard Ensemble, Broadway's productions of Man of La Mancha, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Brooklyn, Phil Collins’s Tarzan, Guys and Dolls, The Wiz, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Rocky, In The Heights and The Lion King, Gloria Estefan’s On Your Feet, the 2017 Tony Award-winning revival of Once on This Island, and the acclaimed Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations. His studio/film soundtrack credits include Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, collaborations with jazz greats David Sanborn and Marcus Miller, ECM's Tituli by Stephen Hartke with the Hilliard Ensemble, Barbershop 3, several HBO films and many TV and radio commercials.
As an Afro-Cuban percussion specialist, Diaz has appeared with: Miami Sound Machine, David Sanborn, Marcus Miller, Sean Kingston, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Shaka Kan, Patty LaBelle, Lazaro Galarraga's Afro-Cuban All Stars, percussionists Angel Luis Figueroa, Candido Camero, David Yazbek, Román Diaz and Pedro Martinez, The PanamericanJazz Band, The Ethnix, Anette Aguilar’s Latin Jazz Group, Marta Topferova, Edmar Castañeda, Tribal Sage and the New York World Music Institute. In addition, Mr. Diaz’s has recently released an album with world music group Kalunga.
An active educator, Diaz has taught concert percussion at El Sistema de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, University of Connecticut and at his private studio in New York City. He has also taught Afro-Cuban percussion seminars, classes and clinics at the Peabody Institute, University of Southern California, Percussion Artists Workshops Los Angeles/New York, Los Angeles School District, The Juilliard School, the Boston Conservatory and Mannes School of Music in New York City. Diaz is currently on the percussion faculties at Rutgers University, the Juilliard School and New York University. His book on Afro-Cuban percussion, The Afro-Cuban Percussion Handbook, has become a classic of the percussion literature.
Mr. Diaz has composed music for the Aspen Music Festival, New York University and University of Southern California. His concert music is currently available through BachovichMusic.
This program was made possible by funds from the Somerset County Cultural & Heritage Commission, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the New Jersey Historical Commission.
