SOLARTE, a new project founded in 2015, focuses on promoting the art and culture of Spain and Latin America in a new and unique interdisciplinary artistic way.
We are a contemporary/classical nontraditional quintet (voice, guitar, saxophone and piano plus dancer), which can also be presented in multiple combinations. We are committed to championing works by Spanish and Latin American composers. We create and perform our own unconventional transcriptions and arrangements in order to help audiences connect and engage with Spanish culture. One of the goals of the ensemble is to contribute to the promotion of emergent Spanish composers and therefore commissioning new compositions.
First performances include a recital in Spain, and participation at the "10th Annual International Concert" at Manhattan School of Music and at the "Garden Party" at Instituto Cervantes in New York.
Hannah Elizabeth DeBlock, soprano, holds her Professional Studies and Master of Music degrees from Manhattan School of Music.
While at MSM, as a student of Joan Patenaude-Yarnell, she appeared with the Contemporary Opera Ensemble, the Baroque Aria Ensemble, and the Summer Voice Festival, as well as Mignon Dunn’s Opera Workshop and Warren Jones’s Singers’ and Pianists’ Seminar.
She has performed in various productions with the University of North Carolina Opera such as Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte as the Erste Dame. With the Baltimore Opera Workshop in 2011, she performed the lead role of Mary in William G. Still’s Highway One, USA.
Since moving to New York, she has performed numerous roles with companies throughout the city, such as The Witch in Engelbert Humperdink’s Hansel and Gretel, the title role of Massenet’s Cendrillon, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen. Most recently, Ms. DeBlock has appeared in several productions at MSM from Jenny in Three sisters who are not sisters by Ned Rorem to the Fox in Janácek’s Cunning Little Vixen to Guido’s Mother in the musical Nine.
"One of the top young guitarists of his generation" (Performance Today), Jordan Dodson is an active soloist and chamber musician based in New York and Philadelphia.
In the Fall of 2011, Jordan was one of two guitarists selected to inaugurate a new program in classical guitar at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music.
He has received prizes in numerous competitions, including the 2013 Astral Artists National Auditions, 2011 Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition, 2010 Indiana International Guitar Competition, and 2008 American String Teachers Association Competition. In 2013, he was a Young Artist in Residence on American Public Media's Performance Today.
An advocate for contemporary music, Jordan has commissioned and premiered dozens of pieces internationally. He is a performer in several New York City ensembles including Ensemble Moto Perpetuo, Marcel, and Ensemble sans maître.
Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Jordan started playing music at a young age. His past teachers were Clare Callahan, David Starobin, and Jason Vieaux. He has received degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Cincinnati.
Ana García Caraballos is a Spanish saxophonist who received her Bachelor Degrees with Honors in Piano Performance, Saxophone Performance, and Pedagogy in both Piano and Saxophone from the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. She also received her Chemistry Degree from the Universidad de Navarra. In May 2013 she graduated from her Master of Music in Classical Saxophone Performance at the Manhattan School of Musicunder the tutelage of Paul Cohen. She is currently pursuing her DMA studies in Classical Saxophone at MSM.
As a performer, she was a founding member of Symphony Z, a New York City-based ensemble dedicated to performing the music of composer William Zuckerman and that had its debut in April 2012 at Merkin Concert Hall. At present, she is part of the MSM Saxophone Quartet with which she has widely performed all around the New York area participating in many interesting collaborative concerts as well as outreach performances. They have premiered and recorded several works by different emerging composers.
In addition, she has performed with various orchestras in numerous venues in Spain and the US. In November 2013 she debuted with the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski. Moreover, she has participated in and worked at the New York Summer Music Festival as Dr. Paul Cohen's saxophone teaching assistant. During the summers 2012 and 2013, she attended the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival and worked as the administrative assistant.
In January 2012, she was featured in the recording of Allard Variations for Alto Saxophone and Piano by John Lissauer. Additionally, she has worked extensively with Jeff Scott from the Imani Winds to premiere several of his compositions. In October 2013, she recorded A Passista Mais Linda by Jeff Scott as part of his first album as a composer.
As a teacher, she has diverse experience teaching piano at the Escuela de Música del Valle de Egüés in Navarra, Spain, and saxophone, music theory, and ear training at the New York Summer Music Festival. During the Spring 2012 she coached Precollege saxophone quartet at Manhattan School of Music. She is currently teaching saxophone through the MSM Distance Learning teaching artists program and at KIPP Infinity High School as part of the MSM Outreach Program.
Irene Sivianes Fernández is from Sevilla, Spain. She received her Bachelor Degree in Classical Dance Pedagogy from the Instituto Universitario de Danza “Alicia Alonso,” Madrid. In June 2012, she graduated from her Master in Leadership and Management of Cultural Projects from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid. Currently, she is pursuing extensive studies at the Contemporary Martha Graham School in New York City.
As a professional dancer, between 2007 and 2011 she was a member of the Ballet de Cámara de Madrid, under General Director Alicia Alonso and CEO Alberto García. He has collaborated in several music videos including one with the band “The Refrescos” participating in Oktoberfest, at the Palacio de los Deportes of Madrid in 2014. In June 2014, she also debuted as an actress in the short film “Ella,” directed by David Hebrero, current member of NYFA in Los Angeles. In addition, she has performed in shows of diverse disciplines such as neoclassical, contemporary, flamenco, latino, Musical Theater, and at cultural events like the Expo Zaragoza in 2008.
As an educator, she has extensive experience in Music Education, Classical Dance, and Contemporary Dance. In the course of her teaching in schools, she was the creator and choreographer of the First Festival of Dance Arts in 2013. And in May 2014, she presented her first cultural project, as director, coordinator and dancer, “The Marvelous Tale’s Machine,” which was premiered at the Teatro Joan Manuel Serrat in Madrid. This year she has been selected as the choreographer of a project on Flamenco and Contemporary Dance fusion at the Contemporary Martha Graham School.
Pianist Enriqueta Somarriba Yravedra has performed in Europe and the United States, both as a soloist and chamber musician.
Performances include appearances in Carnegie Hall in New York, Unity temple of Chicago, Castle d’Ursel in Antwerp (Belgium) and National Auditorium of Madrid (Spain), among others. She appeared as a soloist with the Andres Segovia Orchestra in the presence of the Queen Sofia of Spain, and other orchestras in her native Spain. In addition, Ms. Somarriba has made recordings for the Spanish National Radio and 98.7 WFMT Chicago and has been awarded first prizes in national and international competitions.
She has taken part in several master classes with Andrei Gavrilov, Dina Yoffé, Joaquín Soriano, Akiko Ebi, Jorge Federico Osorio and Gilbert Kalish, among others, and has participated in music festivals such as the Euro Music Festival in Leipzig and International Piano Festival in Spain.
Scholarship recipient of Juventudes Musicales of Madrid, Mutua Madrileña and AIE (Society of Spanish Artists and Performers), Enriqueta Somarriba studied with Solomon Mikowsky at the Chicago College of Performing Arts and Manhattan School of Music. She is currently pursuing her doctoral degree with Min Kwon at Mason Gross School of the Arts in Rutgers University.
Since very young, Ms. Somarriba has found in teaching an incredible way to channel her passion for music, and a source of apprenticeship for her own development as performer.