Annette A. Aguilar at The United Palace (4.11.16)

multi-percussionist – producer – educator – leader

Monday, April 11

The United Palace of Cultural Arts presents

“Origin Stories”

with special guest

Annette A. Aguilar

Multi-instrumentalist Annette Aguilar carved out a long and successful career with her ability to play a wide spectrum of musical styles, from Latin to jazz and classical to reggae. For more than two decades she has toured, recorded, composed, produced, and arranged. She has worked with symphonies and opera companies, and played percussion with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Shawn Colvin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Suzanne Vega, and Tito Puente, among others. She has even appeared on Broadway in productions that include Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Streetcorner Symphony, and The Capeman. In 1992 in New York, she founded StringBeans, her own Latin jazz band, and went on to release the album Special Friends, which was issued by Eagle Seeks Salmon Productions. Aguilar was born to Nicaraguan parents in San Francisco, CA. She first learned how to play the drums when she was 13 years old, and moved on to also play a wide variety of percussion instruments, including the marimba, the timpani, hand drums, and congas. Like many teenagers, she formed a band in junior high school. By the age of 16 her talent had progressed to the point where she was invited to perform with such celebrated Latin musicians as fellow San Franciscan Sheila Escovedo, who would later become famous as Sheila E., and Cal Tjader. Despite her early success in the Latin arena, however, she switched tracks to pursue classical studies after she heard a symphony orchestra for the first time. After graduating from San Francisco State University with a performance degree, she headed to New York’s Manhattan School of Music to work on her master’s degree. While there she also became a student of Johnny Almendra and Luis Bauzo in East Harlem at Harbor Performing Arts School. She also took private lessons from Jerry Gonzalez, who led the Fort Apache Band. Aguilar has been featured in the book She’s a Rebel by Gillian Car. She is an instructor at New York’s Third Street Music School Settlement. With StringBeans, she played the Guggenheim Museum Worldbeat Jazz Series for two consecutive years in the late ’90s. She has also worked for several Grammy award-winning Broadway shows, as well as televisions shows.

“Origin Stories” explores where artists and art comes from through a series of performances across a variety of art forms from different countries. Many of these performances are part of our “Lobby Series,” which creates intimate artistic experiences in one of NYC’s most stunning settings. “Origin Stories” complements our mission to “uplift, educate, and unite our community through cultural arts.”

click here for the full line up