Carnegie Hall

Marisol Berríos-Miranda is a Puerto Rican ethnomusicologist and affiliate professor of music in the Honors Program at the University of Washington, Seattle. She co-curated the traveling exhibit American Sabor: Latinos and Latinas in US Popular Music, which traveled to 20 cities in the United States and Puerto Rico from 2007 to 2015. She is the author of numerous articles on salsa and Puerto Rican musical culture, and co-author of American Sabor: Latinos and Latinas in US Popular Music.

A Fulbright scholar from Cali, Colombia, Leila Cobo is Billboard’s chief content officer of Latin/Español, overseeing the brand’s coverage of Latin music on all its platforms, as well as all its Spanish-language content. Considered one of the world’s leading authorities on Latin music, Cobo was the first US-based journalist to prominently cover Latin music daily and has been instrumental in transforming its coverage and perception in the US. She has published five books, including Decoding “Despacito”: An Oral History of Latin Music. Among her many accolades, Cobo was named an inaugural “Leading Latin Lady” by the Latin Grammys in 2017.

Josh Kun is a cultural historian, author, curator, and MacArthur Fellow. His books include Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America; The Tide Was Always High: The Music of Latin America in Los Angeles; and Songs in the Key of Los Angeles. As a curator, he has partnered with the Grammy Museum, Getty Foundation, SFMOMA, California African American Museum, Los Angeles Public Library, and more. Kun is a recipient of a Berlin Prize and an American Book Award. He is vice provost for the arts at the University of Southern California, where he is a professor and chair of Cross-Cultural Communication in the USC Annenberg School.

Dr. Chris Washburne is a trombonist, composer, author, and professor. He has performed on more than 150 recordings, including two that won Grammy Awards and seven that were Grammy nominated. He is leader of the acclaimed Latin jazz group SYOTOS, as well as Rags and Roots, in addition to performing with Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, Rubén Blades, Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, Ray Barretto, Chico O’Farrill, and many more. Washburne is a professor of music and chair of the music department at Columbia University, where he also founded the Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program. His books include Bad Music: The Music We Love to Hate; Sounding Salsa: Performing Latin Music in New York City; and Latin Jazz: The Other Jazz.