“No matter how high the sky is in the world, no matter how deep the deep sea is, there won’t be a barrier in the world that my deep love won’t break for you”. This is not only a bolero, it is a declaration of love, it is the total surrender to the loved one. Roberto Fonseca expresses the poetry of those songs that have made generations fall in love, of those phrases that like this one are part of the collective memory, those that we have always said or wanted to say as verses, and that we have hummed as songs.
The list of performers that Roberto brings to this edition of La Isla Sonora is not just any old classic: Benny Moré alongside Pedro Vargas, a legendary encounter of which anecdotes are still told; José Antonio Méndez, brilliant poet of the Cuban filin; Guillermo Portabales, the creator of the guajira de salón; Barbarito Diez, the voice of danzón and elegance made song; Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo, another duo that Roberto himself was able to accompany; Abelardo Barroso, godfather of son and cha cha chá; María Teresa Vera, the first diva and first lady of Cuban song; or Nat King Cole and his magnificent vision of the Latin romantic song.
Roberto Fonseca’s new episode has dressed up with his love songs. Available here.
The TSF Jazz programmers present their selection of the most beautiful titles for a Piano Jazz atmosphere. For the occasion, the double vinyls 100% Crooners, 100% Divas, 100% Swing and 100% Jazz Manouche, 100% Jazz Cool, are again available.
The exceptional 100% TSF Jazz collection has been embellished with its latest volume Piano Jazz. Let yourself be carried away by the mix of this selection with Keith Jarrett, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Michel Petrucciani, Oscar Peterson, Roberto Fonseca, Emet Cohen… More info here.
Radio Gladys Palmera launches new programming this year. Two Latin jazz programs revitalize this online radio station, conducted by two of the most important musicians of the genre: Bobby Sanabria and Roberto Fonseca. Isla Sonora is Roberto Fonseca’s Brand new radio show. Focusing more on Cuba and on the large number of talents that La Isla has given to the world, Fonseca takes a journey through the past and present of Caribbean jazz and the work of great pianists and composers who have mixed jazz with mambo, descargas, cha-cha-cha and rumba. Roberto Fonseca is a Havana-born pianist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and conductor. He recorded his first solo album in 1999 and joined the Buena Vista Social Club to later accompany the great legends of Cuban music. In jazz, his collaborations with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter stand out, and in the production the famous project Havana Cultura. Nominated for a Grammy, his music is inseparable from his mystical experience. THURSDAY.
Roberto Fonseca will be performing two exclusive dates in the Netherlands this fall. First stop will be on October 21st at Bimhuis in Amsterdam, on October 22nd at Muziekgebouw in Eindhoven and the next day Cuban pianist will be performing at LantarenVenster in Rotterdam. Grab your ticket now here.
Roberto Fonseca will return to the road after an amazing summer tour with the Fall YESUN Tour. The 17-date tour is set to kick off on September 25th at Fiestas de la Mercè in Barcelona. The trio—comprised of keyboard Roberto Fonseca, bassist Yandy Martinez, and drummer Ruly Herrera—will travel to festivals and venues across Europe from September through November. See below for a full list of upcoming tour dates for Roberto Fonseca. For ticketing details and more information, head here.
Headliners in Detroit from September 3–6 will include Dee Dee Bridgewater (the festival’s 2021 artist in residence), Herbie Hancock, Kenny Barron, Abdullah Ibrahim, Anat Cohen, Roberto Fonseca, Sean Jones, Kenny Garrett, and Gregory Porter, among others.
The world’s largest free jazz festival takes place each Labor Day weekend in downtown Detroit. Roberto Fonseca will be performing on September 5th along with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Kenny Garrett, Gregory Porter among many others.
The full lineup is below. Visit the Detroit Jazz Festival’s website for more information.
Every Saturday and Sunday, “L’Obs” offers exclusive sessions to its readers, to support the music industry in crisis. You will find big names and the editorial staff’s favourites.
On his piano, Roberto Fonseca has fun pushing the creative limits of his track “Por Ti“. This version shows just how much the Cuban jazz pianist is inspired by classical culture in his everyday life. With Yandy Martinez on bass and Ruly on drums, from his studio, he revisits the eponymous track of his album released in 2019, with the genius that we know him for. While waiting for his visit to France for his concert at the Nice Jazz Festival 2021, on 15 July next on the Place Masséna alongside Angélique Kidjo and the Brad Mehldau Trio.
All YESUN tour dates have been confirmed and many more are still to be confirmed. Pianist Roberto Fonseca‘s tour will begin on 24 April and will last until 23 November. An extensive tour that aims to recover the energy and concerts postponed due to the world situation caused by the pandemic. The tour includes stops at the legendary Jazz à Vienne, Fiest’à Sete, Jazz in Marciac and many other festivals. Of course, there will be surprises on this tour! Click on this link to see the date closest to your city.
Omara Portuondo returns to the European stage. For her farewell, “la novia del filin” has wanted to surround herself with friends and will be accompanied on stage by pianist Roberto Fonseca, who will be the musical director of her concerts, and musicians Yandy Martinez, Ruly Herrea and Andrés Coayo. With concerts confirmed in Barcelona, Mallorca and Menorca, the diva will bring the best Cuban son this summer and it is not ruled out that she will make special appearances at Fonseca’s concerts scheduled in France.
This afternoon in #DeliExpress at TSF Radio we talked with Roberto Fonseca about his European summer and the festivals in which we will have the pleasure to see him play. But while waiting for the big stages, he settled down on our smaller stage and for our greatest pleasure he played “La Llamada”! Podcast here: bit.ly/3dqy9pi
The Havana Jazz Plaza Festival and the UNESCO Transcultura Programme: Integrating Cuba, the Caribbean and the European Union through Culture and Creativity celebrate International Jazz Day 2021 with an online concert and creative exchange from the Caribbean, directed by Cuban musician Roberto Fonseca who presents the Jazz Plaza Band, and with the participation, for the first time, of artists from nine of the 17 Caribbean beneficiary countries of the Transcultura Programme, who will join this jazz festival virtually. This sub-regional concert will feature Caribbean musicians Andre Woodvine from Barbados, Barbara Cadet from Saint Lucia, Oshane Love from Jamaica, Michele Henderson from Dominica, Reginal Policard from Haiti, James Sanker from Belize, Casandra Núñez from the Dominican Republic, and Cuba’s Roberto Fonseca and Bobby Carcassés. The Concert will be a means to promote and integrate the work of Caribbean artists, as well as a didactic material available for use in the teaching-learning process in the region.
Contradanza del espíritu Metropole Orkest Roberto Fonseca & Metropole Orkest conducted by Jules Buckley
Latin jazz at its most epic! Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca and the renowned Metropole Orkest conducted by Jules Buckley joined forces back in January 2020 to celebrate cuban music. This composition is an epic orchestral piece, recorded live, that takes the listener on a journey of music styles. Jules Buckley: “Roberto is a masterful pianist and he, much like the Metropole Orkest, creates new and exciting music with a profound understanding and love for tradition and his own musical heritage.” Listen now on Spotify
From Wagner to Taichkosvky, Grieg and Albinoni, Roberto Fonseca proposes a new playlist with some of his favorites classical music. Sit, relax, play and enjoy!
Roberto Fonseca proposes a new playlist to travel with his favorite music. Titled “Día entero” (All day long)… you will be able to travel with the songs that had him hooked all day long. A varied and diverse music selection; from Porter to Kuti, through Silvio Rodríguez. Learn more here.
Roberto Fonseca enters the world of playlists and offers us a list created exclusively for Radio Gladys Palmera, with the best of Modern Jazz. Classics of modern jazz with aromas of Harlem basements, black novel riffs, whisky and soda, rain on the asphalt and that dark object of desire! An impeccable and impactful session curated by the pianist that you can listen now here!
Roma Jazz Festival will be arriving on #LIVENow with 8 concerts kicking off from the 10th and running through to the 20th of November. Incredible line up includes Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca trio, singer Salvador Sobral and Cuban singer Ylian Cañizares, among many others. Is time for Jazz, is time for a change. Grab your tickets here: bit.ly/RJF_LiveNow
Inspirations #1 is part of a series of playlists that Roberto Fonseca will be sharing on Spotify that invites the audience to discover his musical universe. An extensive journey that starts with D’Angelo, Bob Marley, Tego Calderon to Amy Winehouse, Erikah Badu among many others. Discover now Fonseca’s musical inspirations! Click here and enjoy!
Do you want to discover where the fascination for music in Roberto Fonseca comes from? Then listen now to his new playlist “Mis Favoritas” on Spotify! A great selection of creators that have marked and defined his own musical world. “Mis favoritas” is part of a series of playlists that the artist is sharing on his Spotify profile, with the aim of allowing the public to enjoy a good selection of songs wherever they are.
Royal Albert Home brings exclusive sessions from artists’ homes to yours whilst the Hall is shut. Roberto Fonseca will be performing an exclusive set recorded in his hometown Havana specially for the Royal Albert Hall audience. Don’t miss the broadcast next August 16th at 19:30 royalalberthall.com. These shows are all available for free but, if you can, please donate to the Hall.
Ibrahim Ferrer left us 15 year ago and Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca along with French Jazz Festival Jazz in Marciac pay tribute to one of the most important figures of Cuban music, with a very special concert celebrated in 2015. De retour a Marciac will be broadcasted on Youtube and Facebook next August 6th at 9pm. Learn more here.
Roberto Fonseca could not miss his performance at one of his favorites Festivals in the world! Due to the global pandemic, Jazz in Marciac invited him to play an exclusive repertoire specially selected to his audience at Marciac. Don’t miss the chance to see Fonseca’s pure energy at JIM 2020. Learn more here.
Dianeh Sanchez reviews Fonseca’s musical career, influences and creativity in a deep and extense profile wrote at Tunturuntu.org. Learn more here.
BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Huey Morgan dives into the unique sounds of Cuba with special guest Roberto Fonseca – on a quest to understand Latin music’s enduring appeal. New episode this July 10th at BBC FOUR.
ROOTSTOCK will go online for 48 hours of non-stop music on July 11 & 12. Watch and listen Roberto Fonseca perform alongside each other in this first ever global broadcast. His show is scheduled on July 11th at 12am. Don’t miss this great event, follow all exclusive content here.
Roberto Fonseca releases a new videoclip from his latest album Yesun. Travel through Havana’s streets with the song “oo”. Watch it now here.
The first totally online music festival made from Cuba is appropriately called “Tunturuntu pa ‘tu casa”. A Festival that has brought together the finest of the current Cuban scene: Eme Alfonso, David Blanco, Cimafunk, Daymé Arocena, Alain Pérez, X Alfonso, among many others. For its second edition they will be joined by pianist Roberto Fonseca, this Saturday, March 28 at 18:30 – 19:00 (UTC-4 -EST) local time in Havana.
Grammy-nominated Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca presents an infusion of rap, funk, reggaeton and electronic music, performing songs from his latest record in studio at New Sounds New York. Click here and enjoy this live session.
In the spirit of community, however, Fonseca will perform a set behind closed doors at Joe’s Pub tomorrow night to be live-streamed for free at 7pm ET. Fans can watch the performance via the Joe’s Pub YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/JoesPubNY/videos.
This playlist will get your International Women’s Day off to a confident start. Roberto Fonseca shares his favorite songs created by strong women. Hit play and enjoy!
Cuban pianist and composer Roberto Fonseca has been a force to reckon with since he was a teenager, and it has been 20 years since he released his first album. His latest, Yesun, is a supremely assured statement that takes the Afro-Cuban stamp on modern jazz as a matter of settled fact. Watch now La llamada.
Daily Discovery: Roberto Fonseca – Kachucha (ft. Ibrahim Maalouf). Click here and enjoy it!
GRAMMY®-nominated Cuban pianist, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader Roberto Fonseca will tour the U.S. this coming spring in support of the album, with upcoming shows set for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, DC, Seattle and Portland. Check all tour dates here.
Roberto Fonseca will start soon his worldwide tour. Check all tour dates here.
Out Now! Yesun delves even deeper into the music of Fonseca’s homeland, weaving in beats, spoken word, analogue keyboards, Fonseca’s sonorous vocals and more.
Roberto Fonseca reveals the first extract from his new album YESUN