Skip to main content
We use cookies, pixels, and other trackers to improve website experience, analyze site traffic, and deliver more relevant advertising. Some trackers are offered by third parties, which collect your personal data so they can provide services to us and information about your online activity to others. You can manage these trackers under “Cookie Preferences”. For more information, please review our Privacy Policy.
American Symphony Orchestra Chamber Series

Afrocubanismo: African Music and Modernity in Cuba

Performed by the ASO Chamber Ensemble
May 11, 2026, 5:30pm–6:30pm

The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York-based American orchestra, founded in 1962, dedicated to providing great music for everyone. The ASO chamber series features musician-curated programs that represent the diverse perspectives across New York City and worldwide, through explorations of the many styles and genres of American music. 

Afrocubanismo: African Music and Modernity in Cuba

Following a 2023 commission for the ASO’s Chamber Series, percussionist-composer Javier Diaz — whose studio credits include Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights — curates “Contrapunto Musical”: Musical Counterpoint between Cuba and the United States, a selection of chamber music programs that highlight the rich musical history of Cuba and its influence on American concert music and culture, from the turn-of-the-twentieth century through today. The second program of this four-part series, Afrocubanismo: African Music and Modernity in Cuba, explores Cuban music as a synthesis of many different musical influences: a combination of Spanish, French, Central African, West African, North American, and many other national musics. Cuban music emerges as a unique vernacular musical idiom that appears larger than the sum of its components.

Upcoming Events