Sounding Kiskeya Music Festival

Cornell Chamber Orchestra Concert
3:00 PM
Barnes Hall

The Cornell Chamber Orchestra, Gabriela Gómez Estévez, conductor, performs Margarita Luna’s Miniaturas Quisqueyanas (orch. Gómez), Stravinsky's Suites for Small Orchestra Nos. 1 & 2, and Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major.

An Island in Dance: Merengue, Bachata, and Kompa
7:00 PM
Willard Straight Memorial Hall

Featuring dance instructors from Cornell’s Sabor Latino and with a short introduction by guest speaker Dr. Paul Austerlitz, scholar of Dominican and Haitian dance traditions, the Sounding Kiskeya Music Festival invites the Cornell community to an evening of social dancing and conversation. Dominican and Haitian refreshments will be provided.

Midday Music: Student Perspectives on Kiskeya
12:30 PM
Lincoln Hall B20

Student musicians step into the spotlight with chamber and vocal music from Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Featuring works by Rafael “Bullumba” Landestoy, Julio Alberto Hernández, Werner Jaegerhuber, and Julio Racine.

Music and Sound Studies Colloquium: The Radio-Plantation Complex
4:30 PM
Lincoln Hall B21

Sound, power, and resistance take center stage as Dr. Ben Barson explores the history of radio in the Caribbean. Drawing on case studies from Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and beyond, the talk reveals how musicians and listeners reimagined broadcast technologies, transforming tools of empire into engines of creativity, connection, and cultural self-determination.

CCHK Salon: Listening to Kiskeya
5:00 PM
Barnes Hall

Faculty and guest performers bring chamber music from Haiti and the Dominican Republic into close focus in this Center for Historical Keyboards Salon. Performance unfolds alongside commentary by Claude Dauphin, PhD, curator of the Society of Haitian Classical Music Research, and Cornell Music Professor Gabriela Gómez Estévez, inviting audiences to hear the development of chamber music on the island from the late nineteenth century, through the world wars, and into the mid-twentieth century. 
Co-sponsored by the Center for Historical Keyboards (CCHK) and the Society for the Humanities.

Research Symposium
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Lincoln Hall B20

This half-day symposium brings together scholars, performers, and graduate students to examine the music, history, and cultural contexts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Through papers, panel discussions, and an archival presentation, participants explore topics including musical exchange, nationalism, folklore, and performance practice on the island of Kiskeya. The symposium features contributions from invited scholars and Cornell faculty and students, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue at the intersection of research and performance.

Symposium Schedule

Lincoln Hall, Room B20

8:30–9:00 a.m.
Coffee & Pastries

9:00–9:15 a.m.
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Gabriela Gómez Estévez
Jean Bernard Cerin

9:15–9:45 a.m.
Musical Exchanges between the Dominican Republic and Haiti
Paul Austerlitz

9:45–10:30 a.m.
Graduate Student Perspectives
Houngan Collin Édouard: "Vocality, Vibration, Vodou: A Tranble Vwa (Trembling Voice)"
Isabelle Duval: "If Rainbows Could Sing: Lumane Casimir and Sartorial Resistance"

10:30–11:15 a.m.
Panel Discussion
Teaching Kiskeya: Panel Discussion & Workshop
Ben Barson
Paul Austerlitz
Angelina Tallaj
Claude Dauphin
Moderator: Jean Bernard Cerin

11:15–11:30 a.m.
Break

11:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
When Terror Becomes Culture: Luis Días, Activism, and Racial Justice
Angelina Tallaj

12:00–12:30 p.m.
Dicotomía: Context, Aesthetic, and Performance of the Symphonic Works of Margarita Luna García
Gabriela Gómez Estévez

Sidney Cox Library, Lobby

12:30–1:30 p.m.
Archival Presentation
Keeping the Music Playing: Dominican Music Resources at the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Archives and Library
Jhensen Ortiz

Dominican Music in the Twentieth Century
Félix Jimenez

Contemporary Chamber Voices from Haiti and the Dominican Republic 
4:00 PM
Barnes Hall

An evening of contemporary chamber music brings together works by Haitian and Dominican composers in performances by faculty and guest artists. The concert features modern musical voices in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the diaspora, highlighting how composers of the twentieth century shaped distinctive chamber idioms while engaging folk materials, dance rhythms, and international modernist currents. The recital includes works Darwin Aquino, Pablo Gómez Estévez, Margarita Luna, Nathalie Joachim, Amos Coulanges, and Frantz Casséus, and many more. 

Cornell Symphony Orchestra Young Person's Concert
3:00 PM
Bailey Hall

The Cornell Symphony Orchestra, Gabriela Gómez Estévez, conductor, presents its annual Young Person’s Concert, featuring guest violinist Aisha Syed in Arturo Márquez’s Fandango: Violin Concerto. Additional works include Gabriela Ortiz’s Kauyumari, Bienvenido Bustamante’s Three Dances, and Alberto Ginastera’s Estancia: Four Dances. A pre-concert instrument petting zoo will take place in the lower lobby at 2:00 p.m. This event is part of the Sounding Kiskeya Symposium, celebrating the music of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.