Celebrating Gifts of Music
An evening of music, celebration and delicious treats featuring West Hartford alumna, vocalist extraordinaire, Ariana Valdes. The concert will also include I Giovani Solisti, The West Hartford Jazz All Stars, and string students from Charter Oak International Academy.
I Giovani Solisti - Founded in 1983, I Giovani Solisti is a chamber orchestra made up of the most advanced string players from Hall and Conard High School. The ensemble performs a diverse selection from the string orchestra repertoire.
Solisti is proud to be active in the community, performing at schools, senior centers, churches, synagogues, fundraisers, and other outreach events.
Director: Emmett Drake
West Hartford Jazz All Stars is an ensemble of select students from Conard and Hall High School. These students come together specially to perform for the Gifts of Music Annual Concert and Fundraiser. They play from a wide range of jazz repertoire.
Director: Philip Giampietro and Michael Wyatt
Charter Oak International Academy - This group of students from Charter Oak International Academy are the youngest musicians performing in the Gifts of Music Annual Concert and Fundraiser. They are the budding young musicians of the future.
Director: Elizabeth Keller
Ariana Valdes [she|they] is a Cuban-American performing artist, arts educator, avid thrifter and upcycle jewelry maker, originally from Manchester, CT and now based in New York City. Ariana's formal training began as a vocal fellow in the inaugural class of the Ensign-Darling Vocal Fellowship at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts. However, many of her fondest memories growing up began with summer theatre productions at Hartford Children's Theatre, Summer Place Players at The University of Hartford, and West Hartford Summer Arts Festival, where she played Speedy Valenti in Wonderful Town, Hattie in Kiss Me Kate, and starred as Rose in Gypsy. Ariana pursued further training as a singing actor at The Boston Conservatory, studying Vocal Performance with an Opera Emphasis.
Since college, Ariana has performed regionally at Paper Mill Playhouse, STAGES St. Louis, Gateway Playhouse, City Theatre Company, People's Light, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, Westchester Broadway Theatre, Arizona Broadway Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, John W. Engeman Theater, White Plains Performing Arts Center, Palace Theatre, TheatreWorksUSA, Gallery Players, The York Theatre Company, Scranton Shakespeare Festival, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Mill Mountain Theatre, Prospect Theatre Company, The Latine Musical Theatre Lab, BerkleeNYC, and Forestburgh Playhouse's In the Works-In the Woods, where she developed her first solo cabaret show, "Iridescent."
Prior to making her Off-Broadway debut as Divonne in The Green Room at the American Theatre of Actors, Ariana toured North America and Singapore in My Fair Lady as Mrs. Hopkins and understudied The Mother Abbess with the NETworks national tour of The Sound of Music from 2017-2019. Favorite credits include In the Heights (Daniela), Sister Act (Mary Patrick), Jerry Springer: The Opera (Peaches/Baby Jane), Escape to Margaritaville (Tammy), Beauty and the Beast (Madame de la Grande Bouche), Seussical (Sour Kangaroo), and Shrek (Dragon). Recognized as one of "New York's Latinos 40 Under 40" by Negocios Now magazine, she has received nominations for Best Actor and Best Featured Actor in a Musical for several regional BroadwayWorld Awards and won the Long Island Best Actress in a Musical category for In the Heights. Ariana is especially passionate about amplifying stories that highlight underrepresented voices and has been involved in several developmental readings and workshops of new musicals, including El Otro Oz, Little Duende, Dot Dot Dot, and The Complete Picture. She recently completed a successful run of Brian Quijada's original musical Somewhere Over the Border as Julia, co-produced by City Theatre Company, People's Light & Theatre Company, and Pittsburgh CLO. Ariana is represented by Gregg Baker Management and is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association.
Ariana's experience also includes directing, music directing, teaching, and vocal coaching at various arts organizations and educational institutions throughout New York and Connecticut, including The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, John W. Engeman Theater at Northport, Bayway Arts Center, Studio Theatre of Lindenhurst, Take A Bow Playhouse, George F. Baker High School, Conard High School, and more. As an adjudicator and guest teaching artist, she has been involved with the Stephen Sondheim Awards at Black Rock Theater and recently adjudicated the Hartt Community Division's Vocal Honors program at the Hartt School of Music. She has also served as a private vocal coach for Seasons 1 and 2 of Hartford's Got Talent. In fall 2023, Ariana served as choir conductor and guest soloist alongside "Little Amal," a 12-foot puppet of a Syrian refugee child, during the Walk With Amal celebration in Hartford, CT.
At The Bushnell, Ariana served as a teaching artist with Musical Explorers elementary outreach program in conjunction with the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall. Having led several masterclasses with the Ensign-Darling Vocal Fellowship during the 2020-2021 season, Ariana made her directorial debut, conceptualizing and facilitating a filmed documentary-style concert cabaret entitled Time, Dreams, and the Changes Between, available on YouTube. Soon after, Ariana was appointed Artistic Director of the Ensign-Darling Vocal Fellowship New Voices, going on to direct, music direct, and vocal coach four more live cabaret concerts for the program. Upon concluding her time as Artistic Director in 2024, Ariana received the William A. Yandow Education Award for her contributions to talent development in the Connecticut arts community. For those exploring their own studies, Ariana offers vocal instruction, workshops, and masterclasses, both in person and virtually, through her NYC-based studio, The Mixed Voice Initiative.