Crane Latin Ensemble to Present Concert and Silent Auction on Dec. 1

POTSDAM, NY (11/22/2016)(readMedia)-- The Crane Latin Ensemble will present a concert and silent auction on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m., in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music.

The performance will feature an evening of Afro-Cuban classics and Latin jazz, including works by composers such as Miguel Quintana, Mario Bauzá and Chris Washburn. The band will be joined on stage by dancer and SUNY Potsdam faculty member Cynthia DuFault.

A live silent auction to benefit the Crane Latin Ensemble's upcoming tour to Cuba will be held in conjunction with the concert. For more information, and to view the auction items, please visit the group's Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/cranelatinensemble.

This event is free, and the public is invited to attend. An open reception will follow in the Snell Theater lobby.

About the performers:

The 23-member Crane Latin Ensemble is led by Dr. Marsha Baxter and Dr. Peter McCoy, reflecting the diverse musical life at SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music. North Country Public Radio journalist Todd Moe wrote of the group: "It's dynamic music from a group of talented young people who played their hearts and souls out. I could have grinned all night." This new generation of young performers have shared the stage with the Mambo Legends Orchestra, with whom they have had an ongoing musical partnership since 2010.

Cynthia DuFault has amassed a number of credentials as a dancer, choreographer and educator. She received both a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts degree in dance from Arizona State University, and has studied the classic modern techniques of Graham, Limón, Cunningham and Taylor and the Vaganova method of ballet and pedagogy. As both a modern and ballet-trained dancer with additional expertise in other performing arts, her work lends a dimension of diversity, physicality and risk, within a wide range of media, including concert dance, theatrical production, commercial dance and film. DuFault is a recipient of the 2016-17 Nevada Arts Council/National Endowment for the Arts Performing Artist Fellowship, and she is an assistant professor in SUNY Potsdam's Department of Theatre and Dance.

This concert will be broadcast live on the SUNY Potsdam website at the performance time. To view the program and see other upcoming streaming performances, visit www.potsdam.edu/academics/Crane/streaming.

For more information about SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.

Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam's Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York's only All-Steinway institution.

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