Cuban Icon Omara Portuondo of Buena Vista Social Club™
Celebrates Her 85th Birthday with Special Guests
Roberto Fonseca, Anat Cohen, and Regina Carter
Announce Select U.S. Cities for Fall Tour
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"a nostalgia trip of traditional Cuban styles...it was a showcase
and testament to virtuosic skill..." - Rolling Stone
"With
our music we Cubans have exported more dreams and pleasures than with
our tobacco, more sweetness and energy than with all our sugar.
Afro-Cuban music
is fire, savour and smoke; it is syrup, charm and relief. It is like sonorous rum,
which brings people together and makes them treat each other as equals.
It brings the senses to dynamic life." - Fernando Ortiz
Celebrate Omara Portuondo's 85th birthday and 70 years of performing professionally with a musical party featuring Cuban pianist and musical director Roberto Fonseca, clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen, and violinist Regina Carter throughout
America's finest concert halls. The artists will perform timeless Cuban
classics as well as songs from their own repertoire.
The
great Cuban diva, and artistic ambassador of her country, wants to
celebrate with a grand fiesta representing the impressive sweep of her
career--on every stop meeting with old friends and new to perform much
loved Cuban classics from "Besame Mucho" to "Veinte Años." Her
performances will reflect the long journey of her stellar career, taking
the listener back to her younger years and her continuing love of
elegant cabaret, from the Buena Vista days and up to the present, with
different tastes and flavors of what will surely be a musical feast,
full of piquant sabrosura.
"I
feel very fortunate to be in a position at this point in my career to
remain an impactful force and continue to tour after such a highly
successful and emotional 70 years. I look forward to selective projects
and I can't think of a more appropriate way to celebrate my 85th year
than working with world-class artists such as my long-time associate and
now musical director, Roberto Fonseca, and Anat Cohen and Regina
Carter" says Portuondo.
Cuban-born multi-instrumentalist Roberto Fonseca has
stated his mission clearly: "I want my music to reach people who don't
know me, and I dream of one day becoming a point of reference for my
audience." Fonseca has maintained a sharp focus on this mission and has
already garnered him global recognition. His journey continues with the
upcoming impulse! release ABUC. His eighth album as a leader and the follow up to his GRAMMY®-nominated album YO, ABUC is
a kaleidoscope of dancing colors with which Fonseca tells a story: the
great and rich story of Cuban music, from yesterday to today. Ranging
from contradanza and mambo to cha-cha-cha, danzon and bolero, infused with the spirit of the descarga jam
and hip-hop. Fonseca narrates this story in his own manner; his tale
swarms with subtly veiled references to the past, and he enumerates them
in contemporary detours that are intriguing.
Anat Cohen has
taken the jazz world by storm, winning hearts and minds the world over
with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. An
established bandleader and prolific composer, Cohen's music is a unique
blend of modern and traditional jazz, classical music, Brazilian choro,
Argentine tango, and an expansive timeline of Afro-Cuban styles.
Regina Carter is
the foremost jazz violinist of her generation. Her quest for beauty
combined with her passion for excellence did not escape the attention of
the MacArthur Foundation, who awarded Carter their prestigious
fellowship "genius grant."
Through their deep traditions and stunning musical personalities, 2016 will bring us the 85 Tour.
The
curtains of an era are slowly and elegantly coming down, but Portuondo
will forever, as the old show-business adage has it, "Always leave them
wanting more."
October 1 / Bing Concert Hall / Stanford, CA
October 2 / Weill Hall / Rohnert Park, CA
October 5 / Walt Disney Concert Hall / Los Angeles, CA
October 7 / Balboa Theatre / San Diego, CA
October 12 / Sanders Theater, Harvard University / Cambridge, MA
October 14 / Tilles Center / Brockville, NY
October 15 / New Jersey Performing Arts Center / Newark, NJ
October 17 / Lisner Auditorium / Washington, D.C.
October 19 / Brooklyn Academy of Music / Brooklyn, NY
October 21 / Chicago Symphony Center / Chicago, IL
October 23 / Lakewood Civic Auditorium / Cleveland, OH
October 28 / Knight Concert Hall / Miami, FL
For more information on Omara Portuondo, please visit: omaraportuondo.com
For media information, please contact:
DL Media · 610-667-0501
Greg Angiolillo · greg@
Maureen McFadden· maureen@dlmediamusic.com
Public Relations for the Preferred Artist