Places features six Miami City Ballet dancers and is set to Jorge Mejia’s composition for piano and string quintet. It was recorded at the Frost School of Music’s Weeks Recording Studio, engineered by Weeks Recording Studio’s engineer Dana Salminen and, in addition to Mejia on piano, features the following Frost alumni musicians:
- Daniel Andai - Violin 1: Frost (DMA ’11). Daniel is currently the Dean of Music at the New World School of the Arts.
- Sheena Gutierrez - Violin 2: (Frost MMA ’18). Sheena is currently a Mancini Fellow, as well as a Teaching Assistant to Professor Charles Castleman while pursuing her doctorate (’21) at Frost.
- Shea Kole - Cello: Frost (DMA ’19).
“I am thrilled and honored to collaborate with the Miami City Ballet and Claudia Schreier on this groundbreaking commission,” stated Mejia, a Latin GRAMMY® nominee who also serves on the Frost School of Music Advisory Board and is President and CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing Latin America & US Latin. “Being able to draw upon the talent of musicians from so many Miami-based institutions including of course the fantastic Frost School of Music, is a testament to our great city’s world-class cultural talent pool and a result of Miami’s investment in the arts, of which Frost is a major and vibrant part.”
Places was filmed by Alexander Iziliaev and digitally produced at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in October 2020. The artistic collaboration by Schreier and composer Mejia will reveal a bare stage. The absence of wings, backdrops, or designs will draw focus on the artistry of the performers.
Jorge Mejia is a Colombian-born, Latin GRAMMY Award-nominated composer and pianist, whose talents were developed in the heart of Miami at New World School of the Arts, and, following a stretch at the New England Conservatory of Music, at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. As President & CEO for Sony/ATV Music Publishing Latin America & US Latin, he has also been recognized as one of Billboard’s Latin Power Players for every year Billboard has held the distinction, including most recently, in 2020. As a composer, Mejia is known for his rigorous and eclectic work in classical music, with performances throughout Latin America and beyond.
This digital commission is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has been a generous supporter of Miami City Ballet with over $11 million in cumulative giving since the company’s founding.
