One of the highlights of the 2025 edition of the Padova Jazz Festival is the two concerts at the Sala dei Giganti at Liviano featuring the heavyweight stars of Cuban Latin jazz. After the first night with Alfredo Rodriguez, on Friday, November 14 (at 9 PM), it will be the turn of Roberto Fonseca, a virtuoso pianist who blends the acrobatic rhythmic flights typical of Cuban music with Caribbean melodic appeal and the improvisational structures of jazz. Fonseca will perform in a quartet with Felipe Cabrera on double bass, Andres Coayo on percussion, and Ruly Herrera on drums.
Born in Havana in 1975, Roberto Fonseca is, without a doubt, the most prominent pianist of his generation in Latin jazz. He began studying the piano at the age of eight and has been performing live since he was fifteen. By the late 1990s, his talent had fully emerged, and from his first appearances and recordings as a leader, he plays with a fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms, jazz, and sounds from Western metropolises (drum and bass, hip hop).
Fonseca’s international career began in 2001: he was part of the Buena Vista Social Club as a supporting pianist behind Rubén González. After González’s death in 2003, he inherited his stool and became the accompanist for Ibrahim Ferrer. His participation in the Buena Vista’s world tours also connected him with Cachaíto López, Guajiro Mirabal, and Manuel Galbán. Furthermore, a lasting collaboration with Omara Portuondo was born from this, while his resume later expanded with collaborations with Fatoumata Diawara, Gilles Peterson, and, on the jazz side, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker, Brian Blade.
His solo career took off in 2007 with the release of Zamazu, his first album to receive significant international distribution. In his more recent albums, he explores his roots and summarizes all his musical influences: in Yasun (2019) he traverses traditional Cuban rhythms and urban beats featuring guests like Joe Lovano and Ibrahim Maalouf; in La gran diversión (2023) he invites us to celebrate and dance, with a journey through the roaring twenties of Cuba, reinterpreted with wild modernity.
The Padova Jazz Festival is organized by the Cultural Association Miles, chaired by Gabriella Piccolo Casiraghi, in collaboration with the municipal administration and the regional administration, with the contribution of Bosco Costruzioni and Volksbank, and with the support of the Ministry of Culture.
Information:
Cultural Association Miles
Via Montecchia 22 A, 35030 Selvazzano (PD)
Tel.: 347 7580904
e-mail: info@padovajazz.com
web: www.padovajazz.com