DATE: FRI, June 6
TIME: 7:00 PM
General Admission: Free with RSVP

Queens Rising is an annual cultural celebration, dedicated to illuminating the vibrant tapestry of Queens, New York. Since its inception in 2022, this event has united visual artists and performers with art organizations and performance spaces to showcase the borough's rich artistic heritage. It acts as a catalyst for collaboration, connecting artists, venues, and businesses to maximize opportunities for art and culture to flourish in Queens.  At Queens Rising, the belief in the transformative power of art and culture to inspire, connect, and uplift communities is steadfast.

Queens Rising is proud to introduce our “Queens Scene,” an initiative showcasing Queens based performing artists. Through a curated series of borough-spanning performances, Queens Scene aims to elevate local voices and foster deeper engagement with audiences in each community. "Queens Rising is a collective invitation for all New Yorkers to experience the vast artistic riches of our borough," said Jeffrey Rosenstock, AVP for External & Governmental Relations at Queens College. 

"From Astoria to Jamaica, Flushing to the Rockaways, Queens is rising—again!" 
-Jennifer Sellers-Dimitrov

7:00 PM - 7:45 PM CreArtBox
8:00 PM - 8:45 PM Alba Musik
9:00 PM - 9:45 PM Marilyn Castillo

Approaching Zero is a minimalist journey through sound, silence, and visual art.

Presented as part of Queens Rising at Flushing Town Hall, this special program weaves together music for piano, flute, cello, and electronics, enhanced by original video art projections.
Featuring works by Max Richter, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, François Couperin, Hanna Selin, Michel van der Aa, Nils Frahm, and Guillermo Laporta, the evening invites the audience into a meditative exploration of stillness, resonance, and the beauty of disappearance.

Performing Artists:

• Guillermo Laporta – Flute, piano, electronics, video art

• Josefina Urraca – Piano

• Natalia Hoffman – Cello (virtual participation)

• Hanna Selin – Piano, electronics, video art

• Sarah K. Williams – Video art

• Guillermo Ordaz – Video art

“Attendees can expect everything from mobile sculptures to journeys through light and darkness to meet the spirit of healing plants”
QNS.com on CreArtBox

"Dreamy melodies and soft harmonies that sound beautiful and let the vocals take focus, with emotive lyrics and a vibe that makes you want to dance. The vibe is pure!"
Shiny Music Group on Alba Musik

"Marilyn is a rising Latin Diva with a soulful voice"

- Ilana Martin, Vocal Workout

Artist Bios

CreArtBox (Guillermo LaPorta Castillo) 



Spanish flutist, composer, designer, multimedia creator and entrepreneur, based in New York City and Asturias, Spain. Laporta's artistic work presents multidisciplinary connections between music, theater, dance, and video.

Guillermo is the co-founder, CEO, and co-artistic director of CreArtBox, Inc., a nonprofit arts organization specializing in the creation and production of live art performances that seamlessly fuse classical and contemporary music with original concepts driven by multidisciplinary collaboration. Its initiatives are designed to support professional artists, encourage the creation of meaningful new work, make world-class performances accessible to all, regardless of background or economic status, inspire and educate future generations, revitalize local communities, and foster new forms of human expression.

In 2020, he founded La Asociación para el Desarrollo de las Artes en el Medio Rural (ADAR), a platform dedicated to cultivating musical projects in rural areas of Spain. Its objectives include revitalizing rural areas through cultural projects of international impact, bringing music and the arts to these regions, promoting the use of underutilized rural spaces, encouraging rural tourism through cultural initiatives, and connecting rural areas with global audiences.

At the heart of Laporta's identity is the concept of the "visual concert". These multimedia performances intricately weave visual art and theatrical design techniques into live classical and contemporary chamber music, enhancing the audience's listening experience while respecting the essence of the original musical compositions. These productions immerse the audience in an immersive atmosphere created through lighting and innovative projections.

An archive of such performances can be found on the CreArtBox website.

Alba Musik (Barbara Martinez)

Bárbara Martínez a professional vocalist and dancer who was raised and based in New York City. She leads two solo projects, one is a latin jazz/flamenco program that began with a sold-out evening at Carnegie Weill Hall twelve years ago and which can be seen frequently in jazz venues and festivals. The other is “Barbarella & The Queens Of The Galaxy,” her all-female band that plays her original songs that encompass pop and jazz in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Bárbara can be seen performing regularly as a dancer and singer with flamenco dance companies all around the US. She is an Honors graduate of Brown University and is embarking on graduate studies at Columbia University. Bárbara teaches music at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School.

Alba Musik (Albert Alabedra)



A native of Barcelona, Spain, Albert Alabedra has self-taught guitar since the age of 14. Albert was exposed to flamenco at an early age, with a mother from Córdoba and grandparents from Sevilla, the southern Spanish province of Andalucía where flamenco originated. In addition to the traditional flamenco, popular throughout Spain, Albert grew up with the global influences characteristic of cosmopolitan Barcelona, especially the rumba Catalana.

Later formally trained in classical and electric guitar and then in jazz and flamenco, Albert has used his versatile repertoire to create his own unique “fusion” style. His musical career consists of performances with various pop, rock, jazz, funk, acoustic, and flamenco bands throughout Spain and New York.

Marilyn Castillo

Marilyn Castillo is an independent Chicana singer-songwriter comes from a long lineage of musicians and troubadours who passed on the passion for fine, bold and moving music that make her both her singing and songwriting exotic and glamorous. She is currently co-producing her first solo album “Chicana en Nueva York” with themes of her authorship, her first single “Todavia”
granted her the Latin Artist Revelation of Premios Latinos Fama in 2019. In 2020 she released her second single "Noche de Marzo".

Born and raised in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, México her love for these borderlands and in order to take her music career to another level Marilyn moved to New York in 2014 and has lived there ever since. She has shared the stage with Bobby Cruz, Richie Ray, Arturo Ortíz, and Latin Grammy winners Samuel Torres Flor de Toloache among others. In 2018 she became the female lead singer of Calpulli Mexican Dance Company. She is also the lead singer of Mexican Latin Alternative band Adderesound.