We Are The World: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage
Featuring Paquito D’Rivera as Keynote Speaker, with Bobby Sanabria and the New School Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra!

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We Are The World: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage celebrates the culture, heritage, global influence, and artistry of Hispanic and Latin American communities through music, performance, storytelling, and community, showcasing talent from across The New School's Performing Arts: Jazz, Mannes, and Drama.

We Are The World: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage
Curated by Charlotte Small and Amber Diaz

- An Homage to Mexican Popular Music: School of Jazz & Contemporary Music 
- Mannes Brass Quartet
- School of Drama performers directed by Alba Quezada
- Bobby Sanabria's Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra
- Special guest, keynote speaker, Multi-Grammy Winning Artist Paquito D' Rivera

ABOUT KEYNOTE SPEAKER PAQUITO D’RIVERA

Saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and writer Paquito D’Rivera (El Paq-Man to his friends, colleagues, and fans) is passionate about jazz and classical music, Brazilian music, rumba, tangos, and more. D’Rivera began studying with his father, Cuban classical saxophonist Tito Rivera as a child, and by age ten was playing with the orchestra of the National Theater of Cuba and studying at the Alejandro G. Caturla Conservatory. At 17 he became a founding member of the Cuban Modern Music Orchestra, which he conducted for two years, while frequently playing clarinet and saxophone with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba. Along with Chucho and Oscar Valdés, he founded the band Irakere, known for its explosive, innovative mix of jazz, rock, classical, and traditional Cuban music. His groups The Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Paquito D’Rivera Big Band, and Paquito D’Rivera Quintet, have been acclaimed around the world.

D’Rivera has recorded more than 30 solo albums. His discography is dedicated to jazz, Bebop, Brazilian music, and Latin American styles in general, but he has also successfully ventured into classical music as a soloist in recordings and concerts with the London and Warsaw Philharmonic orchestras; St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra; and the National (Washington, D.C.), Baltimore, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica National, Simón Bolívar, and WDR symphony orchestras, among others. The premiere of his highly anticipated "Contradanza Mulatica" from the Bridgetower Reimagined Project which celebrates and restores the impressive history of the Afro-European violin virtuoso George Bridgetower will premiere this October 3rd, 2026 at Carnegie Hall.

In his passion for giving the Latin repertoire greater relevance, D’Rivera has created and promoted compositions for classically trained ensembles and soloists. His chamber work, Merengue, recorded with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition in 2004. His numerous commissions include music for Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Turtle Island String Quartet, the Imani Winds,  the Ying String Quartet, and the Kennedy Center, among many others.

He is the winner of 18 Grammy and Latin Grammy awards, and was the first artist to win in both classical and Latin Jazz categories. Most recently, he took home 2023 Latin Grammys in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category for Concerto Venezolano, written for trumpet player Pacho Flores, and Best Latin Jazz/Jazz Album for And I Missed You, Too!, a reunion with Chucho Valdés.

Among his numerous honors he has received the NEA Jazz Masters Award, National Medal of the Arts, and the Kennedy Center’s Living Jazz Legend Award. D’Rivera is also the author of the literary works My Sax Life; Oh, Havana!; To Be Or Not To Be, That’s the Joke!; and Letters to Yeyito: Lessons from a Life in Music.

He has been artistic director of the jazz program of the New Jersey Chamber Music Society, the Jazz Patagonia of Chile, and from 1996 to date has served as musical director of the International Jazz Festival of Punta del Este, Uruguay.

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*Free with registration while seats last.

*Please note: This is a high-demand, free event.

To accommodate as many guests as possible, any unclaimed reservations will be offered to others soon after the show starts. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you soon!

We hope you can experience this live. If you, friends or family are unable to attend in-person, please enjoy and share the Livestream of this very special event starting at 7:30pm, Friday, September 25.