NY1 is celebrating Hispanic Heritage all week long with a look at Hispanic pioneers in the arts. NY1 Arts and Culture reporter Stephanie Simon introduces us to a musician who is surprising audiences by introducing them to some lesser-known Latino composers.
Acclaimed Lebanese-Mexican pianist Simon Ghraichy is thrilled to be making his Carnegie Hall debut this month. However, there is an added excitement because at this concert, he will be introducing works by great but not widely known Latino composers.
"Manuel Maria Ponce, the Mexican composer of the late-19th century, and he was considered to many intellectuals in Europe as being the Chopin of Mexico. So his music is very smooth with lots of melodies," Ghraichy says.
"The second one is Ernesto Lecuona,” Ghraichy says. “He’s a Cuban composer and he’s maybe the equivalent of what was Gershwin to the United States - someone who is very eclectic crossover from classical to pop. He’s a superstar in Cuba, but nobody knows him out there."
"And the third one I mentioned is Heitor Villa-Lobos,” Ghraichy says. “He has this kind of mixture between the Brazilian pop culture and the European, very classical roots."
As far as audience reaction, Ghraichy says it can be broken into two parts: before and after they hear the music.
"They immediately think it’s going to be less genius of what a European composer must be,” Ghraichy says. “But then when they listen to the music and after they’ve heard the pieces you can immediately see them, the change on their faces, and they have been convinced."
Simon Ghraichy plays Carnegie Hall October 15.