AVENTURA, Fla. - Jan. 8, 2024 - PRLog -- "Opera Meets Jazz"

A vanguard musical event

Merging Opera's Illustrious Arias with the Groove of Jazz

WHAT: "Opera Meets Jazz" presented by Dranoff 2 Piano

WHEN: 4pm on Sunday, January 28^th

WHERE: Aventura Arts & Cultural Center, 3385 NE 188^th Street

( on-site parking available)

TICKETS: Tickets are $60 VIP (preferred seating and 2 glasses of complimentary prosecco) or $40 general admission. Students with ID pay $5 at the door the day of the event. Tickets available at www.Dranoff2Piano.org

(Miami, January 8, 2024) Miami's Latin Jazz Grammy nominee pianist Martin Bejerano and international award-winning Dutch jazz pianist and composer Mike Del Ferro come together to perform in an innovative Dranoff 2 Piano performance of "Opera Meets Jazz". Opera's most celebrated and memorable arias from Carmen, Tosca, La Traviata, and Rigoletto will be performed by lyric opera soprano Ella Marcus, in their original and jazz improvised forms.

"Mike and Martin's beautiful convergence of opera and jazz set the stage for a genre-bending tapestry, rich with classical roots and a popping passion for jazz," said Dranoff 2 Piano Executive Director, Carlene Sawyer. "Opera Meets Jazz" is truly a celebration of music and its stories across the lines of centuries, rhythms, great songs, and great artists. For the past few seasons, we at Dranoff 2 Piano have been branching out and exploring beyond the European canonical repertory. And if this sounds familiar, it is. Bringing jazz into opera is hardly new: the concept is nearly as old as jazz itself. Top of mind is the work by Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern. They and others have done it, and musical fusion continues today."

About Dranoff

Recognized by critics and music lovers for presenting top duo piano artists from around the world, Dranoff 2 Piano champions the highest quality music from classical to contemporary, through the art form of 2 pianos, widening the lens of great art across heritage and time. For 38 years, the Dranoff 2 Piano Foundation has been the world's leading champion of two piano repertoires and artistry. Dranoff discovers, promotes, and awards honors to top professional duo piano artists through its competition, commissions, and presentations of duo piano concerts in Miami and prestigious concert venues in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Dranoff 2 Piano is one of the leading commissioners of top classical and Jazz composers today including John Corigliano, William Bolcom, Gabriela Lena Frank and 2023 world premiere of Chucho Valdés. The Dranoff promotes awareness in a new generation of students of the transformational power of music and the arts through its multi-disciplinary, educational, and inspirational concert program, PIANO SLAM.

About the Artists

Martin Bejerano is an acclaimed pianist and composer and has performed/recorded with numerous jazz luminaries including his 20 year association with GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award-winning drummer Roy Haynes, Christian McBride Band, Dave Holland, Pat Metheny, Ignacio Berroa, Ron Carter, Russell Malone, Dafnis Prieto, Roxana Amed, Brian Lynch,, Adam Nussbaum, John Faddis, Roy Hargrove, Marcus Strickland  He is featured on over 25 recordings, including the GRAMMY nominated Fountain of Youth with the Roy Haynes Quartet, and Roxana Amed's Latin GRAMMY nominated album Ontology. "Editor's Choice was nominated for a Latin GRAMMY award. Currently, Martin heads the Jazz Piano Studio at the acclaimed Frost School of Music, University of Miami, is serving as Artistic Director for the world-renown Dranoff International 2 Piano Foundation.

Mike Del Ferro has travelled the world extensively searching for collaborations with musicians from cultures quite different to his own, and the musical results have been eye-opening, building musical bridges between cultures not normally within reach of each other. He has managed to combine elements of the revered canons of Western music interspersed with the audacity of Jazz improvisation, and paying tribute to the ancient structures of Asian, South American and African traditional music. Mike has signed with Challenge Records for a series of 10 CDs named "Songs Inspired by wandering the globe", taken from collaborations with musicians all over the world.

Ella Marcus, emerging artist, is a Lyric Soprano, Actor and Songwriter grown up in New York City, learning her craft in a competitive, conservatory-style environment while getting the opportunity to shine in concerts and staged productions, including playing the title role in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.  Currently in her senior year The Boston Conservatory, professional credits include Disney's 2019 live network television production of The Little Mermaid; ensemble-singer in Disney's 2022 live network television production of Beauty and the Beast; New York City's Vocal Mania and Vocal Gumbo concert series.