The Jazz Plaza 2026 International Festival started simultaneously this Sunday on stages in the Cuban cities of Havana, Santa Clara, Santiago de Cuba and Holguín with artists from twenty countries.
The inaugural Maestro de Juventudes gala, at the National Theater, featured the renowned Cuban pianist and composer Frank Fernández, accompanied by a youth symphony orchestra composed of 105 musicians.
“The concert brought together students and institutions of artistic education in the country in a diverse musical journey, which included audiovisual moments, works from the classical and jazz repertoire, and the participation of groups and projects such as the Cuban Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Jazz Band of the “Amadeo Roldán” Conservatory, the Nova Corda Guitar Ensemble, academies, community projects and string orchestras from several provinces,” the organizers point out from the event’s Facebook profile.
“The main thing about the concert is that I am going to present non-famous people, young people and children with extraordinary talent who almost never appear in the media,” Fernández had told local media.
Almost 300 foreign musicians
This edition of the Festival brings together 286 musicians from France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United States, Italy, Lithuania, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Austria, Canada, Greece and China, as well as 23 Cubans living abroad, as announced by the Organizing Committee and now quoted by the agency. EFE.
Concerts by pianists Aaron Goldberg, Edward Simon and Christian Sands are expected from the United States, as well as Cuban musicians residing in that North American country such as Ignacio ‘Nachito’ Herrera and Dayramir González.
In another gala on this first day of the traditional Jazz Plaza festival, pianist Nachito Herrera performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, in which he performed works by American composer George Gershwin such as ‘Cuban Overture’, ‘Summertime’, ‘I Got Rhythm’ and the island’s premiere of ‘Second Rhapsody’.
“We are celebrating the Jazz Plaza, there has to be jazz, and I asked myself how to mix things up, because classical music helps us interpret jazz and I said, let’s do Gershwin, once again,” declared Herrera, who is repeating among the guest musicians.
Also jazz in Holguín
In parallel, a report from EFEthe Jazz Plaza has its first time in the city of Holguín, where the Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca will perform the opening concert.
The festival organizers have explained that the inclusion of Holguín responds to the interest of expanding its cultural reach and offering opportunities to young talents, in a city that has a knowledgeable public with high musical expectations.
Among the activities on the program of this Jazz Plaza is a concert by the group Síntesis, one of the emblematic groups of Cuban contemporary music – winner of a Latin Grammy award in 2022 – which this year celebrates its five decades of artistic career.
Until its closure on February 1, the festival’s programming, in addition to the concerts, will dedicate spaces to exchanges between artists and music students at art schools, master classes, a colloquium in Havana, and meetings for reflection and debate in the other host provinces.
The Jazz Plaza, founded by the pianist Chucho Valdés and the musician Bobby Carcassés, has been celebrated since 1980 and three years later its version became international in one of the most relevant music events in Cuba to consolidate itself as the most relevant jazz event on the island.
Over the last 40 years, international figures of the genre such as the American Dizzy Gillespie, the Frenchman Michel Legrand and the multi-award-winning Mexican pianist Arturo O’Farrill have participated in its programs.
