CreArt Music Festival 2022

The fifth edition of the CreArtBox Music Festival features violinists Mari Lee and Yezu Woo, cellist Yi Qun Xu, violist Matthew Cohen, flutist Guillermo Laporta, pianist Josefina Urraca, and visual artist Tao Ho.

CreArt Music Festival 2022

• On Friday, April 8 at 8 pm: Childhood Memories.
• On Saturday, April 9 at 8 pm: We can learn.
• On Sunday, April 10 at 8 pm: Wherever one turn.

A key component of the festival is the use of captivating visual installations and theatrical design alongside the musical performances. CreArtBox works with visual artists, designers, dancers, and other creatives to craft multi-layered performances centered around classical music.

The lineup of composers includes Joseph Haydn, Dmitri Shostakovich, Franz Schubert, Timo Andres, W. A. Mozart, Robert Schumann, Tatiana Nikolayeva, Joaquin Turina, and Gustav Mahler. Highlights of the program include Haydn’s Symphony Nº. 94, Surprise, Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A Minor, and Nikolayeva’s Trio for Flute, Viola, and Piano, Op. 18.

This edition also features the winners of CreArtBox’s “Call for Submissions of Classical Contemporary Music.”

The festival includes artist talks and Q&A sessions where composers, musicians, and visual artists are more accessible and approachable to the local community than they are in regular performances. In addition to performances, this program showcases talks with the composers, musicians, and directors, exploring the creative process of a piece, the benefits of creating art for society, the status of the arts in the local community, and tips on how to build a career as an artist.

The festival will take place in Culture Lab LIC’s newly renovated theater, located at the waterfront of Long Island City, Queens. Formerly a warehouse, the 12,000 square foot space boasts a 90-seat theater, an 18,000 square foot outdoor venue, and more. As a nonprofit arts advocacy organization, Culture Lab LIC, consistently supports the efforts of local artists through their significant community work and arts programming. Since its conception in October 2016, community outreach has doubled every year.

To reach low-income households and offer affordable art to everyone in the local community, the festival has partnered with local organizations such as Queens Library, the YMCA, Book Culture, local schools, and other groups to offer at least 10% of the seating for free and to make sure that affordable tickets are available to young audiences in low-income households.

About CreArtBox

Directed and curated by Guillermo Laporta and Josefina Urraca, the festival presents CreArtBox’s roster of musicians, many of whom are members of notable orchestras and ensembles such as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York Philharmonic, New World Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Orchestra.

CreArtBox pairs exceptional classical and new music with a crafted visual aesthetic to design programs that foster art commitment in present society, promote the creation of new meaningful work, support professional artists, enhance local communities, and inspire future generations. This organization was founded in 2013 and has been supported primarily through individual donors and grants from the NYState Council on the Arts, the Amphion Foundation, Alice M. Ditson Fund, Spain Arts and Culture, and Queens Council for the Arts.