Encuentros: Nexus Duo & Alafia Ensemble

• Friday, 13 June 2025, 7 p.m.

• TGR The Green Room

• Niehler Str. 104 Entrance D, 2nd floor, 50733 Cologne

• Free admission (donations welcome)

• Reservation required at: alafiaensemble.events@gmail.com (Limited places available!)

Encuentros

Classic, traditional, popular, symphonic, avant-garde. Where are the boundaries? Where are they crossed? The blending of genres is at the heart of what the Alafia Ensemble and the Nexus Duo do best. 

Encuentros is a meeting of musicians, cultures and musical genres. It is also a family celebration. Yaritzy Cabrera, the flutist of the Nexus Duo, is the aunt of Leonardo Pedroza Cabrera, the musical director and flutist of the Alafia Ensemble. 

The programme consists of a mixture of duos, small groups and the two groups playing together. After the concert, you are invited to toast the release of Alafia's first album, Amalgamando, which was recently released and features Héctor Molina on several tracks. Weather permitting, this will take place on the roof terrace of The Green Room.

Alafia Ensemble

The Alafia Ensemble consists of six musicians who, in addition to their classical training, share a passion for chamber music. 

What makes the Alafia Ensemble so special is both the diverse cultural background of its members and its unusual instrumentation. This results in a multifaceted repertoire that includes both their own arrangements of symphonic works and traditional music from the countries of origin of the ensemble members. It consists of Venezuelan flutist and arranger Leonardo Pedroza, Scottish mandolinist Iain Lennon, Russian pianist and composer Olga Riazantceva-Schwarz, German-Palestinian violist Marina Eichberg, Chilean-Basque cellist Paula Sagastibelza and Cypriot clarinettist Nikola Janjic.

Since its formation, the ensemble has given concerts in various parts of Europe, including a residency in Portugal sponsored by Iportunus, several concerts in the Netherlands and concerts as part of the British BMG Festival. In addition, the ensemble's first album, Amalgamando, is currently in production.

Nexus Duo

The Nexus Duo consists of two outstanding Venezuelan musicians: Yaritzy Cabrera (flute) and Héctor Molina (Venezuelan cuatro and guitar). This artistic project was founded with the aim of exploring universal music, with a focus on Latin American and Venezuelan repertoire. Their versatility allows them to move seamlessly from academic works to popular pieces, including arrangements of well-known songs and original compositions, all performed with a consistently high level of execution and interpretation.

Yaritzy and Héctor achieve a unique symbiosis between the academic and popular realms, a result of their individual careers, which have been enriched by both musical worlds.

Yaritzy Cabrera holds a degree in music with a specialisation in instrumental performance (flute) from the Instituto Universitario de Estudios Musicales (IUDEM) in Caracas. Her musical education began as a child in the Coro Infantil Venezuela, which was directed by her father, Maestro Raúl Cabrera. She was a member of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela for 13 years, with which she toured internationally under the baton of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. She is currently a flutist with the Miami Symphony Orchestra. In 2025, she received the Artist Individual Grant from Miami-Dade County in recognition of her outstanding artistic career and projection.

Héctor Molina holds a degree in music with a specialisation in composition from the Universidad Nacional Experimental de las Artes (UNEARTE) in Caracas. Despite his academic background, his career is deeply rooted in popular music through the Venezuelan cuatro, an instrument on which he is a recognised master in his country. He is a founding member of C4 Trío and Los Sinvergüenzas, two important ensembles in contemporary Venezuelan music. In 2019, he received a Latin Grammy Award with C4 Trío and singer-songwriter Luis Enrique for the album Tiempo al Tiempo, which was named Best Folk Album. In 2024, he won another Latin Grammy, this time for Best Instrumental Album, with Tembla, a joint album by C4 Trío and Brazilian mandolin virtuoso Hamilton de Holanda. In 2022, Héctor released his solo cuatro album Travesía, a deeply introspective work that explores the expressive range of Venezuela's national instrument. Previously, he released his album Giros in 2018, which focuses on his work as a composer.

Nexus Duo is essentially a meeting place of sounds, cultures and styles, where flute, cuatro and guitar enter into a dialogue full of freedom, emotion and excellence.