Musiquita (est. 2020, Forest Hills, NY) is a playful exploration of music in Spanish and English, guided by a wife/husband duo, Blanca Cecilia González (vocals/violin/ukulele/percussion) and Jesse Elder (vocals/piano/melodica/percussion.) The couple performs a wide variety of music appropriate for all ages. Musiquita has two central goals: To uplift and encourage children and to strengthen and deepen the bonds between young people and the adults in their lives. 

Musiquita began by playing in parks in and around their neighborhood in 2020, after losing all of their work as full time musicians due to the circumstances surrounding Covid 19. As their regular, community engaging programming has grown in popularity, many offers have come in and the project has evolved beautifully in just three short years. The duo has enjoyed partnering with many organizations and institutions, including Mozart for Munchkins, Greenwich House Music School, the Little Mozart Foundation, Caramoor Center for Arts and Music, Wolf Trap Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, the Community House, FolkColombia, the Center for Traditional Music & Dance, Terraza 7, the Secret Theatre, Dream City, WQXR’s Queens Classical Kids Fair at the Queens Theatre, Young Audiences of New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania, the Great Neck Community School, 3am Theatre, PJ Library, the Warner library, Fairlawn Library, PS101Q & PS144Q. Musiquita also regularly performs private parties and hosts public community building events. Their concerts often feature other performers including tap dancers, jugglers, contortionists and fellow musicians. They work with a wide array of musicians in the classical, jazz and folk music scenes, often blurring the lines between genres as they navigate their way through a colorful musical landscape.

Prior to Musiquita, Jesse was the full time Music Director for Postmodern Jukebox, with whom he toured the world for 8 years. Blanca, who received her Masters in Music from the Juilliard School, was an active freelance concert violinist in the New York City Metropolitan area, performing at such venues as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Blanca’s earlier studies were at Queens College and the Laguardia High School of Music and Art. Jesse studied at the New School University, Oberlin Conservatory and Interlochen Arts Academy. He is a 4 X winner of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer’s Competition.

Join Musiquita live in concert, sign up for a class, or jam along to their Youtube channel in your living room!