Wynton Marsalis wants to return to Cuba
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“Wynton is the reason why I am here; he tells me all the time about Cuba and his wish to come back”, said Stoll, who arrived in Havana along with other directors of the Lincoln Center, as part of a cultural and academic exchange with the National Art School (ENA).
The American musician and professor added that “Wynton loves Cuban music and his concert in Cuba was one of the best moments of his life”.
“Wynton even got mad at me—joked Stoll—because I came here without him; but the truth is he wants to play here again”.
Winner of nine Grammy Awards, Wynton Marsalis offered four concerts in 2010 in Havana’s Mella Theater as the Head of the Lincoln Center’s jazz orchestra, a moment he described as “a great opportunity for learning and a blessing”.
“I love to be taught. This keeps my mind awake. That is why, for me, being in Cuba is a big opportunity to learn. I love Cuban culture and everything I perceive in it” said then the trumpeter and director of the Lincoln Center’s jazz orchestra, who has just launched an album with themes of his concerts in Havana, entitled Live in Cuba.
Todd Stoll took advantage of his visit to ENA in order to teach a workshop to the jazz band of this art university, which will travel to New York in April, 2016, where it will receive master classes by professors of the Lincoln Center within a cultural and academic exchange between both institutions. Then, in June of this same year, the Lincoln Center Young Jazz Band will visit Havana.
“The Lincoln Center does not have a regular program, since music tells us what we have to do; music is not an agenda because music does not have one, but now it told us we had to be here”, said Stoll on his visit to Cuba.
Stoll came with “Horns to Havana” representative Susan Sillins; this is an initiative born five years ago and which has repaired musical instruments from Cuban music schools, starting from the intervention of a group of U.S. remarkable experienced luthiers and Cuban professors.
Sillins stressed this project “has been very important for all its members, and it has shown us the great quality of music and artistic teaching in Cuba”.
“Horns to Havana” project is split into repairing and donating musical instruments, musical education and cultural exchange, said Susan, who also expressed her wish for this dialogue to increase from the retaking of the diplomatic relationships between both nations.
Translation: Roxana Márquez Herrera (Cubarte)
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