NEW YORK.-Argentine composer and conductor Sebastian Zubieta joins the Americas Society as its new Director of Music. In commemoration of the institution’s 40th anniversary, Zubieta’s debut season (Fall 2005- Spring 2006) presents a wide panorama of classical, contemporary, folk, and popular music from Latin America and the Caribbean.

“As part of the Americas Society’s cultural revival, our Music of the Americas concert series will now place a dual emphasis on attracting major stars as well as launching new talents,” said Tess O’Dwyer, Vice President for Cultural Affairs and Development. “Sebastian Zubieta’s research as a musicologist and his grace and intuition as a composer and conductor make him a fascinating choice for our new Director of Music.”

Zubieta has conducted restoration and archival work on the historic folk music recordings held at archives of Instituto Nacional de Musicología in Buenos Aires, a project funded by the Grammy Foundation. With a Masters degree from Yale, he has conducted research on music of the Bolivian Jesuit missions and has led several ensembles in Argentina and the US -including Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale, NeitherMusic, and Grupo Coral Divertimento. His compositions have been performed in the US, Argentina, Europe and Korea.

His first season as Director of Music at Americas Society features a star-studded roster including Osvaldo Golijov, Mario Davidovsky, Antonio Meneses, Paquito D’Rivera and the Assad Brothers, plus Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. As part of Americas Society’s popular new series “Tradition and Transformation: Jewish Culture in Latin America,” Zubieta shines a special focus on the twin cultural heritage of Argentine Jewish composers.

On January 23rd Americas Society will host a conversation and green room celebration for Osvaldo Golijov, whose opera Ainadamar will debut at Lincoln Center’s festival The Passion of Osvaldo Gollijov on the 22nd. In this event, which will also serve as a launch party of the composer’s latest release on Deutsche Grammophon, Ayre, Golijov will address how the numerous –and sometimes conflicting-musical influences that converge on his artistic life have shaped his personal style. On February 10th, Golijov’s contemporaries María Cecilia Villanueva and Mario Davidovsky, who share his heritage in different ways, will explore, through discussion and performance, the processes through which they create their own musical traditions. The concert will include Beethoven’s Quartets opp. 127 and 132, Villanueva’s Retrato del pasado (New York Premiere) and Davidovsky’s Quartet Nr.5, Dank an Op. 132.

On March 23rd, and as part of our Virtuoso Performers series, Antonio Meneses, cellist of the Beaux Arts trio will perform a recital in which he will pair Bach’s Cello Suites # 2, 3 and 6 with the New York premieres of 3 pieces written for him by leading contemporary Brazilian composers to prelude the Suites. This event will also serve as a launch party of Meneses’ marvelous new recording of the Suites for Avie Records.

All events start at 7PM and are free and open to the public. Americas Society members receive priority reserved seating until 15 minutes before the performance, complimentary CDs, and invitations to receptions for the artists.