LEHMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS presents DANNY RIVERA, OBSESIÓN With Musical Director NELSON GONZÁLEZ, Saturday, September 20, 8PM

Featuring KONRAD ADDERLEY, FEDERICO BRITOS, EDUARDO REYES,
RICARDO PONS, JOHNNY RODRÍGUEZ, WILLIE RODRÍGUEZ, JUAN WUST,
RUBEN RODRÍGUEZ, GIOVANNI HIDALGO and BOBBY ALLENDE

Special Attraction, Cuban Pianist EMILIO MORALES

The evening’s performance will feature songs from OBSESIÓN, the beautiful new album from Danny Rivera and Nelson González. A celebration of timeless Boleros that were recorded over a ten year period, the album highlights Danny’s magnificent and riveting vocals balanced with Nelson’s tres guitar musings, while treating these classic songs of love, emotion and desire with respect. The record features collaborations from many of Latin America’s best musicians (Chucho Valdés, Arturo O’Farrill, Andy González and the late Manny Oquendo plus many more) as well as having less common instruments added to some songs, such as the requinto and the Argentine bandoneón, while still keeping it as simple as possible. “We wanted and needed to bring the music back to its purest sound, always maintaining the harmonic melody of the song” said González of his carefully constructed arrangements. To Rivera, “The Bolero represents the feelings of Latin America and the necessity of the soul to express its feelings.”

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College/CUNY at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx, NY 10468. Tickets for DANNY RIVERA: OBSESIÓN on Saturday, September 20th, 2014 at 8pm are $60, $55, and $45 and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at 718-960-8833 (Monday through Friday, 10am–5pm, and beginning at 12 noon on the day of the concert), or through online access at www.LehmanCenter.org. Lehman Center is accessible by #4 or D train to Bedford Park Blvd. and is off the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Major Deegan Expressway. Low-cost on-site parking available for $5.

DANNY RIVERA, referred to as the “National Voice of Puerto Rico”, was born in 1945 in Santurce, which is now part of San Juan. As a child, he was nicknamed Mambito (little mambo) for his singing and dancing and his vocal talents were nurtured by singing in the local church choir. His big break came in 1968 with the opportunity to sing with the popular César Concepción Orchestra which led to being named Best New Singer in that year’s Popularity Festival. By 1969, with a repertoire that emphasized the Bolero, Danny was at the top of the charts with such hit songs as“Porque yo te amo” and “Fuiste mía un verano.” One of his most popular albums, Muy Amigos, with Eydie Gorme, included the hit “Para decir adios,” written by Roberto Figueroa. Many of his albums from the ‘80s are now considered classics, including Alborada, Serenata that included the standard “Madrigal” and Danza Para Mi Pueblo. In the mid-‘80s, Danny started his own production company, D.N.A., recording classic songs on the two-record set Así Cantaba Cheíto González and Inolvidable Tito. 1987 saw the release of Amar o Motit on Sony which reached #3 on the Billboard chart. 2004’s Amigos del Alma received the Grammy nomination for the Best Traditional Tropical album and in 2006 he released the DVD 45 Aniversario En Concierto featuring his most beloved songs. Over his almost fifty-year career, he’s recorded over seventy albums, sold thousands of records and has performed hundreds of concerts including selling out Carnegie Hall in four different decades (1979, 1989, 1999 & 2010).

NELSON GONZÁLEZ has performed with Danny Rivera for over 25 years. Born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico in 1947, he developed a love for Afro-Caribbean music at an early age, which continued when his family moved to NYC at age 12, where Nelson began hanging out with Andy andJerry Gónzalez, participating in their weekly jam sessions. It was Andy that lent Nelson his first tres guitar with its unique set of three pairs of double strings. Rising to the formidable challenge of playing this remarkable, most distinctly Cuban instrument, the Puerto Rican Nelson is widely regarded as the foremost master of the Tres Guitar, leading Cachao to dub him the “Ambassador of the Tres”. With a versatility that can range from Afro-Cuban to Salsa to Bolero, he became a member of the seminal bands Orquestra Harlow, Orquestra Revelación (and subsequently developing a close friendship with singer Ismael Miranda) and the groundbreaking Típica ’73 for four years. In a stunning musical career of more than 40 years, Nelson has been featured on seven Grammy-award winning albums, has backed stars such as Paul Simon, Gloria Estefan andAndy Garcia, toured with Cachao, La India, Marc Anthony, the Conga Kings, Rubén Blades, and is currently touring with Eddie Palmieri.

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council. The 2014-2015 season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and through corporations, foundations and private donations.