Manny About Town
F.I.U. Music Students Cook Up a Spicy Paella
at the Bass

Story and Photos by Manny Meland

	Yannet Amador and Jacqueline Perez

The students of F.I.U. Music School played at a farewell party at the Bass Sunday afternoon, June 3, for Diane Camber, who is retiring as the museum director and chief curator. Seven pianists, Monica Santos, Maria Paulina Garcia, Marta Milosevic-Brankovic, Daniel Escuerdo, Javier Sardinas, Yannet Amador and Jacqueline Perez were featured in solo presentations.

The school serves over 300 music majors from 18 countries. It offers bachelors of music degree in all aspects of music. Students have the opportunity of being included in workshops and master classes conducted by distinguished guests such as George Crumb, Lucus Foss, Robert Craft, Eddie Daniels, John de Lancie, Donald Erb, Richard Stoltzman, Lydia Artimiw, Dame Gillian Weir and Janet Bookspan to name a few. Their excellent faculty includes trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who runs a popular jazz club at the Deauville Hotel on Collins Avenue.

The keyboard students play in different venues as part of their outreach program, in order to gain exposure to live audiences. The university presents a number of festivals each year such as the F.I.U. Festival of the Performing Arts, the New Music Miami Festival and the F.I.U. Jazz Festival. Some of their ensembles have toured South America, Central America, the East Coast and the Midwest. They have also performed on cruise ships. 

	Manny Meland with Yannet Amador

Their programs vary and employ different themes. The exhibit now featured at the Bass features the life and music of the late Cuban singer Celia Cruz. Therefore, the musical program the students presented that afternoon stayed in a Cuban mood. It featured works by classical Cuban composers that span two centuries: Ernesto Lecuona’s haunting “Malaguena” was played by student Marta Milosevic-Brankovic. Student Yannet Amador played a rendition of Ignacio Cervantes Kawanagh’s “El Velorio”, “Adios a Cuba”, “Piccotazos”, “Illusiones Perditas” and “Tres Golpes”. A side by side duet finale by Yannet Amador and Jacqueline Perez summed it up with Kawanagh’s  “La Camagueyanna”, “Los Delirios de Rosita” and “Los Munecos”.