Music Theater Piece ‘Los Valientes’ Comes to Florida Tech Sept. 20

MELBOURNE, FLA.— The Core Ensemble, with actor Gabriel Sloyer, will perform the music theater work “Los Valientes” at Florida Institute of Technology’s Gleason Performing Arts Center Thursday, Sept. 20, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the stories of legendary Hispanic figures are available at the door for $15, or $5 for veterans and children under 12. Admission is free to Florida Tech students with student ID.

“Los Valientes” (The Courageous Ones) is a musical theater work for piano, percussion, cello and vocal performer. It is based on the lives of three heroic Latinos: Mexican painter Diego Rivera, martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero and Mexican-American outlaw Joaquin Murrieta. Murrieta is believed to be the basis for the character Zorro. The music styles include Latino folk, popular music sung in Spanish, and instrumental works by Latin American composers.

Sloyer will play the role of the three legendary Latinos. A New York based actor with an extensive theater background, he has performed with institutions such as the Baryshnikov Arts Center, SoHo Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theater, The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre and the Gardzienice in Poland.

The musicians performing these works will be members of the Core Ensemble which has toured through Australia, England, Russia, Ukraine, the Caribbean and every region of the United States. The ensemble is backed by such supporters as the National Endowment for the Arts and Division of Cultural Affairs. The instrumentalists featured in this performance include Tahirah Whittington on cello, Cyrus von Hochstetter on piano and Michael Parola on percussion. This performance is one in a series of multicultural performance pieces produced by the ensemble over the past 15 years.

“Los Valientes” will tour throughout the United States during National Hispanic Heritage Month. The troupe will reach venues in California, Washington, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois, Connecticut and Maine.

This event is sponsored by Merrill-Lynch Wealth Management of Melbourne, located at 100 Rialto Place. For more information, contact the Florida Tech Humanities Department at (321) 674-8073.