Collaborations
Over the years, Toomai has embarked on some incredibly fulfilling projects with a wide variety of composers, educators, ensembles, soloists, and institutions. This page describes some of our most current collaborations, which are ongoing and expanding! Read below to learn about these exciting musical partnerships.
Cuban Premieres
In April 2024, Toomai gave world premieres of new works that we commissioned, by three of today’s most outstanding Cuban composers: Keyla Orozco, Yosvany Terry, and Adonis Gonzalez-Matos. Special thanks to the Cuban Cultural Center of New York for their generous support of this project! Read below about the new works, which were premiered on April 18th, 2024, at Americas Society. Read below for information about these new works, as well as links to learn more about these composers:
Keyla Orozco: El Canto de la Cigarra (The Song of the Cicada) for string quintet and narrator
Yosvany Terry: Soñando Despierto (Dreaming Awake) for string quintet
Adonis Gonzalez-Matos: Conga and Corrente for string quintet; Interlude for string quintet and piano
The Music of Léa Freire
Toomai has championed music by many Brazilian composers, and Léa Freire is one of our all-time favorites! Our bassist Andrew Roitstein met Léa in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2013, and they began a musical friendship that continues today! Toomai has performed and recorded several of our own arrangements of Freire’s songs for strings alone. In 2022, Léa traveled to New York from Brazil with her team—we recorded several more of her songs with with her, as well as pianist/composer/arranger Felipe Senna, and jazz flutist Ali Ryerson. Léa is an extremely important figure in the Brazilian musical community, and we cherish working with her to realize her imaginative and vivid music for string quintet. Léa Freire will soon release several of these recordings on her label, Maritaca Discos!
Brazilian Choro with Regional Samaúma
In 2024, Toomai teamed up with the wonderful Regional Samaúma, a group of Brazilian musicians who bring the beloved traditions of choro and samba across NYC and the U.S. Together with Samaúma, we have been building a new repertoire for strings and choro ensemble—with works by some of our favorite Brazilian composers from the past, as well as present-day. This collaboration was initiated with performances at Hunter College and Shapeshifter Lab, and we look forward to expanding this repertoire and continuing to perform with these inspiring musicians!