Members of Toomai are featured on guitar virtuoso Virginia Luque’s new album, Danza de Medianoche, A Celebration of Leo Brouwer. This is a beautiful compilation of guitar works by the great Cuban composer Leo Brouwer. Toomai can be heard on the last three tracks of the album (19–21), Baladas del Cameron Negro for guitar and string quartet. This piece, translated […]

It’s been two years since we released our first album, Cuerdas Cubanas! The album has already been available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube, but for this anniversary, we have released Cuerdas Cubanas to stream and download on Bandcamp. https://toomaistringquintet.bandcamp.com/album/cuerdas-cubanas This platform offers features which are rare for online listening—album art, lyrics, and liner notes. These will allow listeners […]

We have finished our debut album titled Cuerdas Cubanas! This recording features eleven original arrangements of classic Cuban songs by Ernesto Lecuona, Beny Moré, Israel “Cachao” López, and more. Special guest vocalist Alina Roitstein joins us for several tracks as we transform this music, representing a range of Cuban styles, into works for string ensemble. Within […]

Toomai’s upcoming album, Cuerdas Cubanas, is all Cuban music—so we wanted the cover to feature Cuban art. After months of searching, we found an image that we felt was a true companion to our music. Here is the story of how our bassist, Andrew, met the artist Gonzalo Borges. I took a trip to Miami […]

This last summer, Toomai went into the studio to record music for our upcoming album! This project features music by all Cuban composers, arranged by Toomai’s bassist Andrew Roitstein. On select tracks, special guest Alina Roitstein shares her beautiful vocals for some classic salsa and bolero tunes. The album will be released in Spring 2018, […]

Although it is already February, Toomai wants to wish everyone a happy 2016! This year marks our 9th year as an ensemble, and it is a time of significant change and progress for Toomai. We would like to reflect on 2015, as well as give an update on all the changes that 2016 brings!   The Early […]

We are thrilled to announce our new endeavor for the Winter and Spring of 2015, the Early Quintets Project! Toomai will curate and perform in a series of workshops and performances in collaboration with New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers program (VYC) and SPECTRUM NYC.  We will be working with five prestigious American composers and ten amazing very young composers (ages 10-14) from the […]

Toomai is pleased to announce a new collaboration in the works with soprano Camille Zamora! In 2011/2012, we worked with Camille on two wonderful projects through Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections Program: the first, at the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx; the second at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining. We shared incredible experiences there […]

Last year, Toomai String Quintet had an unforgettable performance at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where we partnered with Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections, Sospiro Winds, and teaching artist Daniel Levy for a day of musical activities with the incarcerated men.  This last Friday, November 11th, 2011, we returned to Sing Sing with soprano Camille Zamora to […]

On October 20th, we gave our first of seven performances as the ensemble-in-residence at Bronx’s Jacobi Medical Center (through Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections program).  We had an amazing experience collaborating with soprano Camille Zamora and the hospital staff.  This particular visit was part of a series of events for Domestic Violence Awareness month.  We performed […]