Sugar Hill Salon Chamber Music [performance]
Mon, Feb 13, 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm
PERFORMANCE, LIVE MUSIC
Bushel is pleased to host an evening of chamber music by Sugar Hill Salon, a music collective from Harlem that centers on black and brown woodwind artistry in classical music. Their mission is to uplift black and brown musicians playing classical wind repertoire. With each performance, Sugar Hill Salon is decolonizing classical music for a more equitable future.
Doors open at 7 pm; performance takes place 7:30–8:30 pm, followed by a reception. Beverages and snacks by donation. Space is limited; advance tickets are strongly recommended. Tickets are available here at $20 each. Please consider sponsoring an extra ticket for someone in need.
This special event is presented by Womxn for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (W.I.D.E.), and sponsored by The Hamden Inn & Lounge and Muddy River Brewery.
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Sugar Hill Salon
Alexander Davis (he/him) is a New York City-based bassoonist whose artistic intentions center on space-making, connection, and community building within classical music. An advocate of creating equity in the arts, Davis the founder and Artistic Director of the Sugar Hill Salon in the culturally robust community of Harlem, NY, on the stolen traditional territory of the Lenape Nation. In addition to performing, Davis is the Administrative Director of the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival. He has also been part of the “Armory Artists Corps Teaching Artists” in conjunction with the Park Avenue Armory since 2018, serving NYC public school students. Davis is adjunct bassoon faculty at Montclair State University, the Mannes School of Music Prep, and Usdan Summer Arts. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and performance from SUNY Fredonia, a masters in performance from Stony Brook University, and is currently a doctoral candidate of music at Stony Brook University.
Clarinetist David Valbuena is a versatile and compelling musician who performs regularly with a variety of ensembles including the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, Southwest Florida Symphony, and in the 2018 Off-Broadway revival of the Fiddler on The Roof in Yiddish, both in the pit and on stage as a klezmer musician. As a chamber musician, Valbuena is a member of the internationally known Quintet of the Americas and has made appearances at the Endless Mountain Music Festival, Montreal New Music Festival, NYC Electro-Acoustic Music Festival, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival. He has recorded for New Amsterdam Records and can be heard on ShoutHouse’s most recent album, Cityscapes. Valbuena is equally passionate about music education and currently in residency at PS 124Q in Ozone Park, NY and M209 The Hamilton Grange School in Harlem, NY as a bilingual teaching artist. He holds a master’s degree in music from the Manhattan School of Music and a bachelor’s degree in music from Queens College where he studied with Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima.
A socially conscious artist, Adrienne Baker strives to use her voice to help others find theirs. A dedicated educator, Baker teaches flute, voice, and piano to students of diverse musical backgrounds and ages. The intersection of community and commitment with their accompanying values was a foundation of her upbringing and permeates her creative process and output. In a collaborative duo with saxophonist Seychelle Dunn-Corbin, NorthStar Duo, Baker works to promote and expose audiences to works for winds. Previous commissions include Spirituals for Wind Duo, an arrangement of negro spirituals by composer Anthony Green, Jay Meyers’ You Save One You Save the World Entire, and Liz Gelinas’ The Sky Is Green. The duo’s current passions involve commissioning new works and championing pre-existing works by composers of color and women through their podcast NorthStar Duo and Keeping Score. Baker is a musician member of the Groupmuse Founding Council, exploring musician collectivism through cooperative ideals. She is also a certified Suzuki instructor and in her second year seeking a doctorate in musical arts from Rutgers University.