ELENA URIOSTE AND TOM POSTER MIX IT UP

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Classical musicians have a hard time mixing genres. Some would rather be caught dead than condescend to play anything not officially certified as “serious” music. So it was a real pleasure to listen to seventeen selections of music ranging from a Carlos Gardel tango to an Edith Piaf evergreen to a Stephen Sondheim show tune to a Cole Porter Great American Song Book classic to a bit of Fritz Kreisler beautifully played by violinist Elena Urioste and pianist-composer Tom Poster in their The Juke Box Album collection for Orchid Classics.

The two artists, like so many others, felt trapped by the lockdown that began in March of 2020. They set out to creatively avoid depression and musical inertia by recording one tune on video for each day of what they hoped would be a short period of time. They made 88 videos – one for each key on a piano. This album captures some of the duo’s favorite pieces as a celebration of the healing power that music can provide.

In all, they made 88 videos – one for each key on a piano. This album replicates in cleanly engineered sound ome of the variety of the original videos, featuring music by among others, Clarice Assad, Lili Boulanger, Cécile Chaminade, Gabriel Fauré, Carlos Gardel, Jerome Kern, Fritz Kreisler, Jessie Montgomery, Cole Porter, Manning Sherwin, Mark Simpson, and Stephen Sondheim, many in excellent arrangements by Tom Poster, proving that Elena Urioste and Tom Poster have no hang-ups about mixing things up.

Rafael de Acha        ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”