The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County
and the Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation
present
PIANO SLAM 2022
Free show featuring Miami’s top teen poets performing with international Classical stars and DJs including
The Alonso Brothers, Afrobeta, Miami Dance Band and Gentry George
Original music by Martin Bejerano
Directed Katie Christie
Celebrating National Poetry Month
April 21, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.
Knight Concert Hall
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County (@arshtcenter) and the Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation (@dranoff2piano) are proud to present PIANO SLAM 2022, now celebrating its 15th anniversary of performances in the Center’s Knight Concert Hall. Taking place on April 21, audiences will be treated to a FREE show featuring Miami’s top teen poets paired with an array of artists including classical piano duo The Alonso Brothers, dance-pop act Afrobeta, and star choreographer Gentry George and his Zest Collective dance company.
Admission to PIANO SLAM 2022 is free. First-Access Passes, which give guests early access to general admission seating, can be reserved for the performance now. Reserve passes online at arshtcenter.org or by calling the Adrienne Arsht Center box office at 305- 949-6722.
PIANO SLAM 2022‘s music and poetry theme is “Fantasia de Tres Mundos.” The three worlds entail: Music, Humanness, and Home in Miami. PIANO SLAM is a high-powered cross-genre music, poetry and dance extravaganza recommended by The Miami Herald as “a fantastically hip musical showcase for the voices of Miami’s young poets in an extraordinary collaboration of top international and local artists.”
PIANO SLAM is a creative writing project in Miami-Dade Public Schools that presents live concerts, poets, scientists, and hip-hop spoken word to teens in Miami’s middle and high school classrooms culminating in a countywide poetry competition based on the role of music in their lives. Out of thousands of creative submissions, 16 semifinalists are chosen to perform in the Grand Finals concert and competition on the Arsht Center’s Knight Concert Hall stage. Prizes of $1,000 are awarded to the top student poets.
“Music is the inspiration and the education that produces a desire for teens to strive for excellence while lifting their spirits. Their voices are always unexpected and electrifying,” said Carlene Sawyer, Piano Slam creator and producer.
From Hialeah to the Beaches and Miami Gardens to Homestead, Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation’s PIANO SLAM has been connecting teenagers’ love of music to professional performance artists across creative boundaries for more than a decade and is sponsored by Miami-Dade County, Miami-Dade Public Schools, Books & Books, The Children’s Trust, and the Miami HEAT.
PIANO SLAM is directed by international theater artist Katie Christie with music direction by Martin Bejerano. PIANO SLAM’s wildly popular county-wide music-based poetry competition has worked with more than 103,000 Mami-Dade Public middle and high school students making classical music fun and an inspiration for their own creative writing.
About the Dranoff 2 Piano x Adrienne Arsht Center Partnership
The partnership came together in the first year of the Adrienne Arsht Center when the Dranoff Foundation, whose mission is to discover young artists, develop talent, and build a platform and marketplace for their music partnered with the Arsht, to create a community school-based outreach program in the performing arts for young people and their families in the neighborhoods right around the new performing arts center.
In the very first year of the PIANO SLAM program, five middle schools in Overtown, Liberty City, Brownsville, and Little Haiti participated. Today over 100 middle and high schools in Miami Dade Public Schools enjoyed in school professional artist programs and performances and submitted student poetry to the music-based competition.
Over the 15 years in partnership Arsht’s community engagement and education initiatives, Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation has brought artists, musicians, scientists, and educators into over 100 middle and high schools and every school and community district in the county. The Arsht has partnered in teacher professional development, training educators in all core subjects to use music and arts-integrated curriculum in their classrooms.
Dranoff 2 Piano and the Arsht provide performance, art, music, writing, coaching, and training for students participating in PIANO SLAM. The Adrienne Arsht Center provides a community and high-art platform for students and top professional artists to perform in the finals competition concert in the Knight Concert Hall. Tens of thousands of families throughout Miami Dade County have become part of Miami’s art scene through PIANO SLAM in the schools and the Dranoff 2 Piano performances with award winning musicians, dancers, and top theater professionals as part of a student and professional artist extravaganza of great entertainment in the Knight Concert Hall.
For more information on Dranoff 2 Piano, please visit www.Dranoff2Piano.org.
*All programs, artists, ticket prices, availability, dates and times are subject to change without notice. Visit arshtcenter.org for up-to-date information.
The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is made possible by the public support of the Miami-Dade County Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council and the City of Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency, as well as the Florida Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. The Adrienne Arsht Center also receives generous support from individuals, corporations and local, state and national foundations.
About Us
Set in the heart of downtown Miami, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County is committed to welcoming and connecting ALL people to the arts, to the Arsht Center and to each other. Our stages are alive year-round with artists from around the world, innovative programming from our resident companies and local arts partners, free community events that reflect Miami’s unique identity and arts education experiences for thousands of Miami children each year.
Since opening in 2006, the Arsht Center, a 501C3 non-profit organization, has been recognized as a catalyst for billions of dollars in new development in the downtown area, a leader in programming that mirrors South Florida’s diversity, a host venue for historic events and Miami’s hub for arts education.
Each year, we serve more than 60,000 young learners and offer more than 100 culturally diverse and inclusive education programs — many enhanced by the Arsht Center’s relationship with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, local teaching artists and Miami-based arts organizations.
The Arsht Center is also a home stage for three resident companies — Florida Grand Opera, Miami City Ballet and New World Symphony — and a launch pad for local artists to make their mark on the international stage. Our 300+ events each year include the Center’s Signature Series of classical, jazz, Broadway, local theater and much more. We present a robust series of touring Broadway musicals direct from New York, the largest jazz series in South Florida, a major annual Flamenco Festival and an award-winning Miami-based theater program. In addition, our Family Fest, Free Gospel Sundays, CommuniTEA LGBTQ+ celebration and Heritage Fest are among dozens of free events that bring together people from all corners of our community. For more information, visit arshtcenter.org.
About Dranoff
For 36 years, the Dranoff International 2 Piano Foundation has been the world’s leading champion of exclusively two piano repertoire and artistry. It is the only international foundation, accredited by the World Federation of International Music Competitions, to discover, promote, and award honors to top professional duo piano artists through its competition, commissions, and presentations of duo piano concerts. The Dranoff promotes awareness in a new generation of students of the transformational power of music and the arts through its multi-disciplinary, educational, and inspirational concert program, PIANO SLAM.
About the Artists
Martin Bejerano – Music Director – A native of Miami, Florida has been active as a professional musician and head of Jazz Keyboard at UM Frost School of Music. Martin’s career as a solo artist, band leader and composer with recent performances at Symphony Space, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Jazz Gallery, El Hatillo Jazz Festival, Barquisimeto Jazz Festival, and Festival Miami, his trio was featured on NPR’s nationally syndicated show “Jazz Set with Dee Dee Bridgetwater.” Martin’s debut CD Evolution/Revolution was released in May 2007 to high critical praise reaching nine of the Jazz Week chart, which lists the top 50 Jazz albums based on airplay. His recent release, Tio Miami, was chosen as Downbeat Magazine’s “Editor’s Choice” for 2016, reaching the top 25 in the Jazz Weel airplay charts. An award-winning composer, Martin is a two-time winner of the prestigious “New Jazz Works” composition and ensemble development grant by Chamber Music America 2010 and 2017, the “Bacardi Choice” commission by the Dranoff International 2 Piano Foundation and Bacardi in 2013. His commissioned composition “Fantasia de Tres Mundos” for 2 pianos was premiered in April of 2014 at the South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center and has since been performed internationally and recorded by award winning Piano Duo Saar & Stephanie.
Equally talented, The Alonso Brothers dazzle with their artistic exuberance and passionate expression. Having played the piano since they each were six years old, Orlando Alonso and Orlay Alonso both attended the National School of the Arts in Havana, and earned degrees from Manhattan School of Music and Yale University, among several other prestigious institutions. As a duo, each brother brings his own signature style to the stage. Inspired by their communicative gifts, elegance and polish, the Alonso Brothers shine with a charismatic stage presence that is a pleasure to behold.
Miami duo Afrobeta has been tearing up dance floors in their hometown since 2006. Formed by lyricist/vocalist Cuci Amador and synth-centric producer/arranger Smurphio, their mutual love of catchy songwriting, Cuban pastries, and dancing til’ 5 AM, is what initially inspired them to make music together. They’ve toured internationally, performing at some of the largest music festivals and venues in the world including Glastonbury, Space Ibiza, Burning Man, Ultra Music Festival editions in Miami, South Korea and Brazil, Camp Bisco, and Identity Festival. Their fourth full-length album, the self-produced Illusion Motel, was released in fall 2020 on their imprint, Pubic Zirconia. The remix album featuring a full lineup of Miami producers was released in April 2021 entitled, Extended Stay: Illusion Motel Remixes. The documentary Birthright, follows Afrobeta as they are invited to perform in Havana, Cuba. The duo’s desire to visit their parents’ homeland ignites a surreal journey into who they are, where they come from, and what being Cuban really means. Birthright recently premiered as the closing night film at the Miami International Film Festival.
Gentry Isaiah George is the Founder of Zest Collective and Professor of Dance at Miami Dade College’s New World School of the Arts. George is a recipient of a Level 1 YoungArts award and is featured on HBO’s Masterclass, also starring the late Jacques d’Amboise. Gentry was a member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Lustig Dance Theatre, and Ailey II of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Gentry was born in Miami, Florida and at age eight he began studying with Linda Agyapong at the Community Book and Dance Academy. Gentry also trained with Sylvia Padron at Charles R. Drew Middle School, and with Vladimir Issaev at Arts Ballet Theatre of Florida. He was a scholarship student at The School at Jacob’s Pillow, The Ailey School, and The Miami Conservatory’s Thomas Armour Youth Ballet. In 2008 he graduated from New World School of the Arts High School. In 2012 Gentry graduated from the Juilliard School. In 2013 he founded Washington Heights NYC’s premiere dance company Zest Collective and was featured in the NY Post as “one of three men to watch in Ballet.” In New York, Zest has performed at SummerStage, The United Palace, The Wassaic Project, and Fort Tryon Park. In 2020 George relocated to South Florida and began teaching at his Alma Mater New World School of the Arts (NWSA) in both the Dance and Musical Theatre Divisions.
Katie Christie is a visionary leader with a passion for inclusion, justice, and the arts. Katie has been extensively trained in the performing arts, EDI, and Antiracism, is a member of artEquity’s BIPOC Leadership Circle and has spent more than 30 years working professionally at various organizations, schools, and institutions Including, Roundabout Theatre Company, The YWCA, YoungArts and Yale School of Drama. Her driving ambition is to utilize the arts as a catalyst for justice and equity while nourishing and connecting warriors of change locally, nationally, and globally. Katie is the founder and Director of Voices United and has been featured in “Girls and Young Women Leading the Way,” PBS’s “Take Me to Your Leaders” and NBC Nightly News. She has also directed and produced original productions with youth in Russia, Japan, Quebec, Turkey, South Africa, and Lesotho. Additionally, Voices United was named a leading organization addressing race and culture in President Clinton’s “Promising Practices, One America Initiative on Race.”