The Moss Arts Center ushers in its 2024-25 season with a free outdoor concert featuring Puerto Rican band Plena Libre. With mesmerizing hand drumming, raucous horns, and soaring three-part vocal harmonies, the band will bring the audience to its feet for an energy-filled dance party on the Moss lawn on Friday, Sept. 6, at 6 p.m.
Masters of the plena and bomba styles, Plena Libre brilliantly infuses traditional and contemporary music with Afro-Puerto Rican rhythms, creating an electrifying stage performance.
Embodying the soul of Puerto Rico and reviving the plena sound for a new generation, Plena Libre has performed everywhere from Morocco’s Fez Festival to the Playboy Jazz Fest and Lincoln Center. With over 15 albums and four Grammy and Latin Grammy award nominations, the band is celebrating its 30th anniversary as San Juan, Puerto Rico’s torch-bearing pioneers of plena, bomba, son, and salsa.
The group is performing in memory of its recently deceased founding artistic director, the master composer, bassist Gary Nuñez. In honor of Nuñez, the group is moving forward, now with Gary’s son Luis Gabriel Nuñez at the reins as artistic director.
Related event
Prior to the performance, from 5-5:30 p.m., learn the Puerto Rican dance style bomba from members of Plena Libre in a free workshop, open to all experience levels. Registration is not required.
This engagement of Plena Libre is supported in part by a gift from Ms. Sherwood Payne Quillen and the Mid Atlantic Tours program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Weather, venue, and parking information
The performance will be held on the Moss Arts Center lawn, located at 190 Alumni Mall. Convenient parking is available in the North End Parking Garage on Turner Street and in downtown Blacksburg. Find more parking details online. This event is rain or shine. In case of inclement weather, check the Moss Arts Center website for concert and workshop locations.
Katie Gehrt for Virginia Tech
