Jessica Lino
Legendary band, Orquesta Broadway, to play at Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts on March 24, 2023
New York, N.Y., Tuesday, February 21, 2023 – – Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts, on the campus of City College of New York, is celebrating the 60-year history of the legendary, Cuban charanga-styled band, Orquesta Broadway, on Friday, March 24, 2023, with a special concert featuring Multi-award-winning flutist and educator Connie Grossman and Karen Joseph. This special celebration will take place at the College’s renowned Marian Anderson Theatre, named after the distinguished African American singer who broke racial barriers and inspired new generations of singers of all colors. Notable Award-winning radio host and Latin music history aficionado Nelson Radhames Rodriguez is the producer and host of this concert which starts at 7:00 PM EDT. Tickets available at citycollegecenterforthearts.org.
“Over the years, Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts has hosted numerous outstanding milestones in the Latin music industry and I can’t imagine this celebration being elsewhere. Orquesta Broadway’s hypnotic Cuban charanga sound is sure to bring everyone to their feet” said Managing Director, Gregory Shanck.
“Rhythmic and poetic, the sound of a legendary orchestra preserving the tradition of the Cuban Charanga style. The smooth harmonies of the flute and violins make you dance and move like a feather caught in the wind. Traditional Cuban style persists under the direction of El Maestro Eddy Zervigon, who for more than 60 years has been the leader of the mother of all charangas outside of the island, La Orquesta Broadway.” said Nelson Radhames Rodriguez, Producer.
The Orquesta members includes Eddy Zervigon – Director & Flute; Ivan Zervigon – American Drums; Pablo Mayor – Piano; Berny Minoso – Bass; Luis Mangual – Congas; James Guevara – Timbales; David Remedi – Violin; Yunior Terry – Violin; Hector Aponte – Singer; Jorge Maldonado – Singer; Luis Rosa – Singer.
Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts
The award-winningLeonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts hosts an ambitious, year-round calendar of professional performances in the historic Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts. Our mission is to provide a creative arts center and focal point for the City College of New York, building a sense of community within the College, elevating the profile of Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts in the greater New York area, and connecting the College to the surrounding community through the arts.
The 630 seat Marian Anderson Theatre is the largest theatre in Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts. It was dedicated in 1993 with a tremendous ceremony featuring Harry Belafonte, Jessye Norman, Max Roach, Martina Arroyo, Arthur Mitchell with members of Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Phylicia Rashad.
Marian Anderson is remembered as one of the best American contraltos of all time. She was the first African American singer to perform at the White House and also the first African American to sing with New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Ms. Anderson’s achievements, which inspired generations of young black performers, also included a concert before 75,000 listeners at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 arranged by Eleanor Roosevelt after the Daughters of the American Revolution denied the singer the use of the concert hall in their national headquarters.
ORQUESTA BRAODWAY:
Orquesta Broadway is a Cuban charanga-styled band founded by flutist Eddy Zervigón and his brothers Kelvin and Rudy in New York City in 1962. Charanga is an instrumental format of Cuban origin developed at the end of the 19th century that consists of a flute, violins, bass, and a rhythm section composed of conga, timbal, and güiro. The name of the orchestra was adopted after being suggested by Catalino Rolón, the Palladium Ballroom booking agent at the time–the place where the orchestra made its official debut and, also, where four years later it would play the world-famous ballroom’s final dance.
Undoubtedly, the popular Orquesta Broadway has stood the test of time by becoming not only one of the few surviving charanga bands in New York, but the longest running of its type outside of Cuba. Sixty years after its founding and despite varying musical styles, the ever-in-demand Orquesta Broadway continues to enjoy an enviable place at the forefront of Latin music in the United States.
After more than twenty-five record productions, the album “Orquesta Broadway 40 Aniversario” was nominated for the Latin Grammy® Awards in 2003. The band made its phonographic debut in 1963 on the Gema label with an album entitled “Dengue” (Gema GLP 2191)–that included “Como camina María,” the band’s first hit–followed a year later by a self-titled album (Gema LPG-3003). Next releases, Arrímate Pa’ Acá and Tiqui-Tiqui, 1965 and 1966 respectively, for the Musicor label, solidified the orchestra’s popularity as one of New York’s best and helped catapult the band onto the international scene. The result was immediate, and the band traveled for the first time outside the United States to Caracas, Venezuela in 1967. Later visits to Africa, Europe, and South America followed and that is how in 1973 and 74, the Broadway Orchestra made successive visits to Ivory Coast and Senegal as well as France.
In Cali, Colombia, in 1982, Orquesta Broadway was awarded as “Best of the Fair” during the celebration of the city’s “XXV Sugar Cane Fair”. This recognition was one of the first in a lengthy list of accolades the group has garnered in recognition of its great popularity, high professionalism, and excellent interpretive quality. The orchestra keeps on playing at local venues and continues to travel abroad bringing the exciting sound of Afro-Cuban music to the refined ears of dancers around the world.
On November 12, 2011, Orquesta Broadway was featured at the annual World Athletic Gala of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in the Hall of Stars of the State
Sports Club in the Principality of Monaco thus becoming the second Latin American group, after Cuba’s legeendary Orquesta Aragón in 2007, to be chosen to entertain such a prestigious event.
On June 30, 2012, Orquesta Broadway celebrated its 50th anniversary with an exciting concert at New York’s Lincoln Center where Mr. Zervigón and the band were presented with a special proclamation by New York’s City Council.
Most recently, 0n April 23, 2022, Orquesta Broadway was featured as the main attraction at a multitudinous concert labeled “Gran Fiesta Cubana” in Medellin, Colombia where the band played opposite Orquesta Aragon from Cuba, New York’s Tipica Novel and Guateque Project, a local aggregation.
Eddy Zervigón, the flutist, musical director, and founding leader of Orquesta Broadway plays a five-key wooden flute referred to as the “French flute”; instead of the more modern and more frequently used Boehm system flute. Mr. Zervigón was born in Güines, a small town 48 km southeast of Havana. In 1962, he and his brothers left Cuba and arrived in Miami where they stayed for a brief time before finally settling in New York City where Mr. Zervigón worked with the bands of Lou Pérez, Johnny Pacheco, Alfredo Valdés Sr., and Arsenio Rodríguez before founding his own, Orquesta Broadway.
As a flutist, Eddy Zervigón has taken part in innumerable record production by a select and diverse group of artists. He has also appeared as a guest soloist with such prestigious aggregations as Manny Oquendo’s Conjunto Libre, New York’s Grupo Folklórico y Experimental, and Eddie Palmieri’s band.