Suite Life: KST’s Favorite Holiday Tradition Gets a Latin-Jazz Makeover
Hugo Cruz, Photo by Jefferson Evans
The November 30 Celebration of KST Namesakes Gene Kelly and Billy Strayhorn Features Musical Direction from Hugo Cruz.
Kelly Strayhorn Theater (KST) invites audiences to experience a sizzling new take on the art of KST’s legendary namesakes at SUITE LIFE: A Celebration of Billy Strayhorn & Gene Kelly. This year’s annual benefit on Saturday, November 30, will begin with an exclusive VIP Soundcheck at 5:30pm, followed by a 7:30pm concert offering Afro-Cuban riffs on Strayhorn’s beloved jazz classics. Suite Life will be directed by Pria Dahiya, with musical director Hugo Cruz leading an outstanding ensemble of musicians, including Degnis Bofill, Chantal Joseph, Mike Tomaro, Joe Sheehan, and Brian Stahurski.
An annual high point of the long weekend in the East End, Suite Life is both a popular holiday tradition and an opportunity to invest in a pillar of Pittsburgh’s creative community. KST is excited to welcome Musical Director and percussionist Hugo Cruz in bringing Strayhorn’s jazz staples to life. Cruz is a Cuban-born composer and musician who has performed at venues including Havana’s Fábrica de Artes, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. His Cuban musical background influences his adaptation of Strayhorn’s music, highlighting rhythmic percussion and joy from Latin beats. Recently, Cruz performed at KST with the #notwhite Collective — a group of women artists who use art to reject colonialism — in their mixed media art exhibition Sister Soul Spectrum.
“I have always been surrounded by music and those who love music — especially Cuban music,” says Cruz. “My background and identity as moro or indio in Cuba, meaning someone of African, European, and Taino descent, gives me a unique place in this topic — my ancestry is mixed, as are many Cubans. Culturally, I have been exposed to multiple genres and styles of music that influence my work.”
Hugo Cruz will bring these influences to Suite Life with a talented roster of musicians. The lineup of performers will include Chantal Joseph, Brian Stahurski, pianist Joe Sheehan, vocalist and percussionist Degnis Bofill, and saxophonist Mike Tomar.
Joining Hugo in leading Suite Life is returning director Pria Dahiya, a director, writer, and visual artist who was most recently part of Fall 2023’s Freshworks program, a creative incubator for Pittsburgh-based artists. Dahiya’s performance project, You and Me and the End of the World, offered an insightful take on youth and desire in the digital age.
Audience members from Suite Life 2023, Photo by Chad Isaiah
Prior to the concert, attendees can gain exclusive, behind-the-scenes insights into the making of Suite Life at the VIP Soundcheck. The theme of the VIP event, a Flower is a Lovesome Thing, takes its name from a classic Strayhorn tune. From 5:30pm – 7:00pm KST welcomes VIP sponsor &flowers, who will lead a collaborative flower pressing activity in the lobby. Anyone who participates will take home their one-of-a-kind print, courtesy of &flowers and VIP gift sponsor BonBon Press, who designed and printed the edition on an original Heidelberg Windmill letterpress. VIP patrons will have the opportunity to mix and mingle over a signature seasonal cocktail and mocktail from TLC Libations and elevated hors d’oeuvres before a VIP-only performance from Hugo Cruz and his ensemble.
In 2023, KST invited people through its doors on 348 days out of the year and created opportunities for 224 local and nationally recognized artists. At Suite Life, music lovers, business leaders, and community members can support this anchor arts organization, which continuously activates the Penn Ave corridor. According to Co-Executive Director Joseph Hall, Suite Life is fundamental to KST’s mission of elevating Black and queer artists in the Pittsburgh community.
“When you support Kelly Strayhorn Theater, you are saying YES to this city,” says Hall. “Every gift and sponsorship we receive helps build a home for creatively experimental work that uplifts, entertains, and opens space for crucial community dialogue. Your generosity helps ensure that KST remains the soul of East Liberty, where artists and Pittsburghers of all backgrounds can thrive.”
SUITE LIFE: A Celebration of Billy Strayhorn & Gene Kelly
Saturday, November 30, 2024 | 5:30pm – 7:00pm VIP Soundcheck | 7:30pm – 9:30pm Concert
Kelly Strayhorn Theater | 5941 Penn Ave.
Tickets for Suite Life are Pay What Moves You, $35 – $200 per attendee, and can be reserved here.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Musical Director/Percussionist Hugo Cruz Machado is a Cuban-born, award winning, internationally renowned drummer and composer who has performed in South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Mexico, Chile, and Venezuela. Hugo is the leader of Caminos, who fuse rhythms and melodies of Afro-Cuban, Cuban, American jazz and funk styles. Caminos released their first original album Punto de Partida in 2022, and have made appearances at Fábrica de Artes in Havana, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, among others.
Pria Dahiya is a director, visual artist, and writer exploring internet culture through literary adaptation, movement, and media design. With a passion for exploring the intersection of technology and humanity, Pria’s work transcends the boundaries of traditional art forms, seamlessly blending literary adaptation, movement, and media design.
E. Lieu Wolhardt is a multi-cultural/multi-media/multi-disciplinary artist, as well as a lighting and projection designer. A child of globalization, their work addresses themes of violence, non-bodies, exilic spaces, self obsession, self repulsion, and the existential nature of being everything & nothing at all.
Degnis Bofill is a Cuban percussionist, vocalist, and composer based in Havana. Degnis is well versed in an array of Latin percussion instruments and a connoisseur of Cuba’s unique rhythmic tradition. He has toured the world, performing alongside Arturo O’Farrill, Orlando Valle “Maraca”, Néstor Torres, Bobby Carcassés, Dave Weckl, Blondie, and Roberto Fonseca. Degnis directs his own ensemble, Golpes Libres (Free Hits), mixing Afro-Cuban traditional music and modern jazz, combining intricate textures, improvisation, and elaborate harmonic work.
Chantal Joseph is a dynamic and versatile musician and educator based in Pittsburgh, PA. Originally from Cape Cod, Chantal has played at the Newport Jazz Festival and with renowned ensembles such as the Boston Pops and Cape Symphony. She continues to perform with New York-based Perry Rossi Orchestras. Since relocating to Pittsburgh, she has continued to captivate audiences and was even named Best R&B Performer by the Pittsburgh City Paper.
Mike Tomaro is a saxophonist, composer, arranger, and jazz educator. He is the Jazz Studies Program Director at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. Mike is a Yamaha Performing Artist and Vandoren Diamond Artist. He has many credits to his name on nationally-released CDs, including 5 of his own and over 200 published compositions and arrangements. Mike is co-author of the textbook, Instrumental Jazz Arranging: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide.
Brian Stahurski received his formal education at Duquesne University, earning a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Performance in 1989 while studying with Jeffrey Mangone, and a Master’s degree in Performance in 1992 while studying with Anthony Bianco. Since then he has performed with the Pittsburgh Ballet Orchestra, major Broadway touring productions, the Wheeling Symphony, WQED’s Live from Studio A on PBS television, and various Jazz, Blues, Salsa, Pop and Rock artists around Pittsburgh.
Joe Sheehan is a composer, pianist, and educator immersed in three music environments: jazz, classical, and global folk traditions. His music and performances embrace a diversity of music traditions and perspectives, woven together to express ideas of tolerance, unity, and wisdom. He has performed with jazz masters, folk musicians, classical ensembles, and rappers; his music has been heard in Canada, Ghana, Hong Kong, Italy, Uganda, and throughout the U.S. He teaches Musicianship at Duquesne University.
ABOUT KELLY STRAYHORN THEATER
Named after 20th century entertainment legends Gene Kelly and Billy Strayhorn, both natives of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kelly Strayhorn Theater (KST) is a home for creative experimentation, community dialogue, and collective action rooted in the liberation of Black and queer people. We welcome our home to all who uplift Black, Indigenous, people of color, and queer voices.
KST is an institutional arts anchor in Pittsburgh’s East End that has served the community for more than two decades. Since launching KST Presents programming in ’08, KST has been Black-led, fostering radical imagination for Black and queer arts, culture, and community in Pittsburgh by cultivating BIPOC and/or queer artists, entrepreneurs, and arts administrators, developing their careers, and shifting narratives around Black possibility.