About the Program
Toomai String Quintet: Passos Brasileiros
Toomai String Quintet, an ensemble dedicated to expanding the Latin American chamber music repertoire, performs music from their new album, Passos Brasileiros (Brazilian Steps).
Celebrating Brazil’s vibrant musical legacy, Passos Brasileiros embraces works from several beloved traditions — choro, samba, Brazilian jazz, classical music, and Música Popular Brasileira (MPB)—and reimagines them for string instruments. The concert features Toomai’s original arrangements of popular songs by Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil, and Dona Ivone Lara (the “First Lady of Samba”); jazz-influenced works by Hermeto Pascoal and Léa Freire; and classical selections by Chiquinha Gonzaga, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Paulinho Nogueira.
About the Artists
The Toomai String Quintet is an ensemble devoted to playing a variety of musical traditions from around the world, creating its own string arrangements, and commissioning new works. The award-winning group has been engaging audiences across the US for over a decade, performing concerts in collaboration with presenters such as Carnegie Hall, 92Y, and The Juilliard School, among others.
Central to Toomai’s mission is the expansion of the Latin American repertoire for string ensemble. Toomai has arranged or commissioned over 25 works by Latin American composers. In 2018, Toomai released its debut album, Cuerdas Cubanas; and in 2024, the group released its new album of Brazilian music, Passos Brasileiros.
The ensemble also facilitates educational workshops that teach young people creative approaches to music through the lens of Cuban traditions; past residencies include Midori & Friends, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Institute, and Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and California Arts Partnership Program.
Formed in 2007 at The Juilliard School, the quintet is named after Rudyard Kipling’s short story “Toomai of the Elephants” in which a young boy journeys into the jungle to witness the dance of the wild elephants. The Toomai String Quintet aspires to cultivate a similar sense of curiosity and discovery by searching for diverse music and sharing it with its audience.
The quintet members are violinists Emilie-Anne Gendron and Alex Fortes, violist George Meyer, cellist Hamilton Berry, and bassist Andrew Roitstein.