Festival Miami Artist Bio Archive
Music of the Americas
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Ron Abel
Ron Abel, the multi-award winning composer, producer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor and musical director whose client list ranges from multi-million selling pop diva Taylor Dayne to opera diva and Kennedy Center Honoree, Jessye Norman can currently by seen on the new Fran Drescher TV Land television series, “Happily Divorced” playing himself.
Abel was personally honored recently and named among the Great American Composers…
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Ludwig Afonso
Ludwig Afonso was born January 21, 1978 in Havana, Cuba and came to Miami, Florida in 1980. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Music and Jazz Performance from the University of Miami in May 2002. As a student of the University of Miami, Afonso was given the chance to play in the school’s top ensembles, performing with Maria Schneider, Tony Mendoza, and Bob Berg. While in Miami, Afonso also performed with such…
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Gabriel Alegría
Gabriel Alegría combines his experience playing jazz as it developed in the U.S. with a passionate interest and careful study of the black music of coastal Perú. By incorporating and exploring the common African roots found in both styles, he has developed a uniquely Afro-Peruvian jazz music concept. The rich legacy of the black music of coastal Perú can be heard in a contemporary jazz context. In all of Alegría’s work, a cross-cultural…
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Lucie Arnaz
Lucie Arnaz began her career in a recurring role on The Lucy Show, opposite her mother, Lucille Ball. At age 15, she became a series regular on Here’s Lucy, a show which ran for six seasons. She starred in her own series, The Lucie Arnaz Show and later in the critically acclaimed Sons & Daughters on CBS.
On the big screen, Arnaz starred in movies such as The Jazz Singer opposite Neil Diamond…
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Willy Chirino
Willy Chirino combines the musical traditions of Cuba with American rock and jazz, helping to create the Miami Sound of Salsa music. The Cuban-born, South Florida-based, vocalist and bandleader boasts a musical repertoire of over 100 songs and 30 albums, making him one of the most emblematic Tropical music acts internationally. A demonstration of his talent is that more than 60 artists have covered his hit Soy, among…
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Tomas Cotik
Violinist Tomas Cotik, currently pursuing his doctorate in violin performance at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, is an internationally recognized chamber musician, soloist, and orchestra musician. First prize winner of the National Broadcast Music Competition in his native Argentina in 1997, Cotik has concertized in Germany, Holland, Canada, Argentina, Japan, and throughout the U.S., participating in over 15 international…
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Ramón de Bruyn
Raised in South Africa, Ramón de Bruyn, appearing in ¡CELEBRACIÓN! with Gabriel Alegria, started out playing guitar and picked up the electric bass at the age of 13. While pursuing his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Cape Town, he started studying the double bass and piano. He has played with artists such as Sibongile Khumalo, Winston Mankunku, Neo Muyanga, Deborah Tanguy, Frank Paco as well been part of various ensembles…
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Fernando Gonzalez
Writer and Editor Fernando González regularly contributes to The Miami Herald, Jazz Times, The International Review of Music, Latingrammy.com, and other publications. As a music journalist, González has been Managing Editor of JAZZIZ, correspondent for The Washington Post, and staff music critic for The Miami Herald and The Boston Globe. He was Managing Editor of El Sitio.com United…
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Hansel y Raul
Hansel Enrique Martinez and Raul Alfonso were born in Cuba. Their musical careers began in 1976 New York City as vocalists and co-founders of the world famous Charanga ‘76. In 1983, they formed what is now considered the most dynamic and successful duo in the history of Latin tropical music. They are international recording stars and renowned composers who have performed their Charanga based music all over the…
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Juan Pablo Jofre
Bandoneonist Juan Pablo Jofre has brought his form of contemporary tango to some of the most important venues in Asia, Europe, America and the Caribbean as soloist, composer and arranger.
As a performer, Jofre earned Argentina’s highly competitive National Arts Grant to study with legendary Astor Piazzolla’s Sextet bandoneon player, Julio Pane in Buenos Aires. Jofre has collaborated with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra,…
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Yuri Juárez
Appearing in ¡CELEBRACIÓN! with Gabriel Alegria, Yuri Martín Juárez Yllescas is a Peruvian guitarist, arranger and composer who began his career in 1996 as guitarist for various groups of Afro-Peruvian music, folk, and fusion. Juárez’s musical training ranges from formal studies with the Afro-Peruvian masters of the guitar Pepé Torres, Alvaro Lagos, and Jorge Madueño and more “street” experience in Afro-Peruvian peñas.
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Laura Andrea Leguía
Appearing in ¡CELEBRACIÓN!, saxophonist and composer Laura Andrea Leguía has participated in Gabriel Alegría’s Afro-Peruvian jazz projects since their inception in the year 2000. She contributed the title track of the album Un Rezo and is featured prominently on two tracks on Nuevo Mundo. Leguía has toured the USA, Latin America, Europe and Canada with various Afro-Peruvian jazz projects and her performing and recording…
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Ivan Lins
Multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Ivan Lins is one of Brazil’s most beloved music superstars. His career has spanned 35 years and 27 records, with over 350 songs recorded in Brazil and hundreds more around the world.
Ivan Lins first hit was “Madalena”, followed by “O Amor É o Meu País”, “Começar de Novo”, “Desesperar Jamais”, “Aos Nossos Filhos” and “Vitoriosa”, all sung…
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Freddy “Huevito” Lobatón
A master percussionist and zapateo dancer, Freddy “Huevito” Lobatón is appearing in ¡CELEBRACIÓN! with Gabriel Alegria. He has performed and toured internationally with Afro-Peruvian music luminaries and played and composed for Eva Ayllón, Peru Negro, Lucila Campos, Guajaja, and la Peña Don Porfirio. A member of Peru’s legendary Lobatón family, Lobatón began developing his skills at the age of four watching his father’s…
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Eduardo Marturet
Eduardo Marturet, appearing in TRUMPET VIRTUOSO ARTURO SANDOVAL, enjoys an active career on three continents. Currently the Music Director and Conductor of The Miami Symphony Orchestra, he is a frequent guest conductor in Europe and remains deeply involved in the musical life of his native Venezuela. In 2006, Marturet received a Latin Grammy nomination…
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Pablo Menares
Appearing in ¡CELEBRACION! with Gabriel Alegría, Pablo Menares is one of the most important young bass players in Chile. In 2009, he moved from Chile to New York City. His bass playing is considered to be elegant, musical and lyric, while firmly rooted in swing and polyrhythmic concepts. Menares has performed and/or recorded with all the of the leading jazz musicians in Chile including: Christian Galvez, Claudio Rubio, Andy…
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Carlos Oliva
Cuban-born vocalist and percussionist Carlos Oliva arrived in Miami in 1961, where he formed Los Sobrinos del Juez, (The Judge’s Nephews), specializing in a new, inter-cultural sound. This fusion of Cuban music, salsa, afro beats, samba, jazz and rock became known as “The Miami Sound.” Oliva has produced and directed many other musical groups, including Miami Sound Machine.
A prolific commercial composer, Oliva…
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Astor Piazzolla
Legendary composer Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) redefined classical Argentinian tango by infusing it with jazz and classical techniques to create New Tango. His output includes more than 1000 works, and continues to influence the best musicians in the world, including violinist Gidon Kremer, cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Mstislav Rostropovich, the Kronos Quartet, pianist Emanuel Ax, guitarist Al Di Meola, and numerous others.
A virtuoso…
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Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval is fluent in at least four musical languages. He can burn through an Afro-Cuban groove, tear up a bebop tune, soar over a Mozart concerto and sooth you with a luscious ballad; with equal power and grace. A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, Sandoval was born in Artemisa, a small town in the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, on November 6, 1949, just two years after Gillespie became the first musician to bring…
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Jon Secada
Three-time Grammy winner Jon Secada is an international superstar. With sales of more than 20 million albums worldwide, Secada is also a veteran of Broadway, television, and an accomplished producer.
After earning his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Jazz Vocal Performance at the University of Miami, Secada joined Gloria Estefan’s band as a background singer. He composed several ballads for Estefan, including the… -
Fred Sturm
Jazz composer and conductor Fred Sturm has appeared with professional jazz ensembles and radio orchestras in Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Scotland, and Norway, and his works have been performed by ensembles, orchestras, wind ensembles, and chamber groups worldwide, featuring renowned artists Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis, Bob Brookmeyer, Clark Terry, Phil Woods, Gary Burton, Arild Andersen, and John Scofield.
In 2003, Sturm…
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Suénalo
Latin funk. Fusion. Jam band. Multicultural cocktail. The sound of Miami. Afro-Latin-Baby-Makin’-Descarga-Funk. These are names that have been used to describe Suénalo, and they are all on the money. To a point anyway, because even the lengthy hyphenated description the band came up with themselves to describe their hard-to-pin-down style all fall short of the true breadth of what they represent.
It’s the result of a 10-year…
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Tiempo Libre
Three-time Grammy®-nominated Tiempo Libre is one the hottest young Latin bands today. Equally at home in concert halls, jazz clubs and dance venues, the members of the Miami-based band are true modern heirs to the rich music tradition of their native Cuba. The group is celebrated for its incendiary performances of timba, an irresistible, dance-inducing mix of high-voltage Latin jazz and the seductive rhythms of son. Since their formation…
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Shirazette Tinnin
Appearing in ¡CELEBRACIÓN! with Gabriel Alegría, Shirazette Tinnin, also known as “She Beats,” is a native of North Carolina. It was at Appalachian State University that she found her true love for drum set and her true belonging in jazz music. She began performing in the jazz ensembles, and small combos as well as performing with her jazz professor Todd Wright on a regular basis while in school.
In 2005, Tinnin was the runner-up…
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Nestor Torres
If a flute could talk and sing, it would certainly be in the voice of Nestor Torres, for he speaks through his instrument. Equally fluent in Jazz, Classical and Latin idioms, his fluid versatility sets him apart. Born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Torres moved to NYC with his family in his teenage years and went on to study at Mannes School of Music and later at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. At that time he was also learned…
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Trio Da Paz
With three of Brazil’s most in-demand musicians, Trio da Paz updates and redefines Brazilian Jazz with their harmonically adventurous interactions, daring improvisations and dazzling rhythms. Trio da Paz was formed in 1990 by guitarist Romero Lubambo, bassist Nilson Matta, and drummer Duduka da Fonseca, all seasoned masters of both jazz and Brazilian music.
The members of Trio da Paz have recorded and performed with an…