Carnegie Hall

Born in Mexico and raised in New York, Arturo O’Farrill is a prolific pianist, composer, and passionate promoter of Latin music and its cultural heritage. He is the founder and artistic director of Belongó, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of Afro Latin music through performance, education, and preservation. His professional career began with Carla Bley’s band and continued as a solo performer with a spectrum of artists, including Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte. O’Farrill’s work has earned him eight Grammy Awards, most recently for the album Fandango at the Wall in New York in 2023. Arturo O’Farrill is a Steinway Artist.

The Grammy Award–winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra has enamored international audiences with its creative performances of music by Latin jazz legends, such as Tito Puente, Frank “Machito” Grillo, and Chico O’Farrill, as well as new pieces from some of the most accomplished composers and arrangers in Latin music. With programs that showcase its versatility, the orchestra has pushed the boundaries of the genre with daring interpretations, performing and commissioning innovative compositions and big-band arrangements by some of the most respected writers across genres and around the world. Over the years, the orchestra has brought its incomparable sound to the Apollo Theater, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Boston’s Symphony Hall, San Diego Symphony, Elbphilharmonie, Newport Jazz Festival, Festival Internacional Cervantino, North Sea Jazz Festival, Ljubljana Festival, and Taichung Jazz Festival.

Daymé Arocena is a powerful voice in contemporary Latin music, celebrated for her genre-blending creativity and deep connection to her Cuban roots. The Grammy-nominated and Juno Award–winning singer, composer, and choir director was recognized with a 2024 Latin Grammy nomination in the Song of the Year category for “A fuego lento,” featuring Vicente García. Her latest album, Alkemi, marks a bold reinvention of her sound that blends neo-soul and Afro-Caribbean rhythms with modern pop. Collaborating with renowned producer Eduardo Cabra, the album showcases a range of influences, from jazz to urban styles. As The Guardian noted, “This is the sound of a singer poised for crossover success.” Echoed by NPR, “This Cuban soul singer is on fire right now, burning up the stages wherever she plays.” Rolling Stone called Alkemi “a proud celebration of Blackness, spirituality, and the self.” Arocena first burst onto the international scene in 2015 with her debut album, Nueva Era. In 2021, she became the youngest Latin American musician to be part of Berklee College of Music’s prestigious Signature Artist series. As she continues to evolve artistically, Arocena remains a trailblazer, pushing the boundaries of Latin pop and redefining its future.

Vocalist, songwriter, producer, and performer Emeline Michel is internationally acclaimed for creating her own musical style by infusing pop, jazz, blues, and traditional Haitian rhythms to create deeply moving and joyful music. A master entertainer, Michel has been sharing her message with audiences across Europe and the Americas for more than 20 years, with 12 albums and appearances at the United Nations, Luminato Festival, Montreal International Jazz Festival, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Tasmania’s Ten Days on the Island, Italy’s Teatro del Silenzio with Andrea Bocelli, Zimbabwe’s Harare International Festival of the Arts, and on MTV’s Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief. Hailed by The New York Times as a “diplomat of music” and “the dancing ambassador with a voice serene and warm like the breeze,” Michel first began singing with the gospel choir of the Church of Gonaïves in Haiti. She later studied at the Detroit Jazz Center and then returned to Haiti, where she completed her first album before moving to France to hone her skills with legendary vocal coach Richard Cross. Now based in New York City, she runs her own production company, Production Cheval de Feu, and is currently touring in support of her new album and autobiographical documentary, The Aroma of My Land.

Telmary is a Cuban rapper, musician, and spoken-word artist. Her musical career began in the 1990s as she experimented with rapping over funk, hip-hop, jazz, and soul with an Afro-Cuban heartbeat. As a founding member of the groundbreaking Cuban contemporary band Interactivo, she was one of the group’s main songwriters and became a break-out leader who defined modern Cuban rap. Telmary’s energetic rap is pregnant with the cadence and rhythmic flow born from ancient Afro-Cuban moyuba prayers, repentismo poetry, Changüí, and rumba. She brings together diverse global sounds to break barriers and connect people of different cultures and languages. Telmary has toured the world and has recorded and/or produced more than 70 albums, including seven of her own as a leader with varied ensembles and collaborators. Her refined technique, unique voice colored with percussive elements, and mastery of rhyme and poetic flow makes her a singular messenger who defies genres. She is recognized not only for expressing herself through music, but also for analyzing culture and contextualizing art. A natural storyteller, Telmary is an active participant in academic and journalistic pursuits, including speaking at conferences and analyzing sociocultural themes. She is also the owner and designer of Tumbao de Telma, an Afrocentric clothing line.