PERFORMERS:
Camila Cortina-Bello, piano
Veronica Leahy, saxophone
Gerson Lazo-Quiroga, bass
Julian Milternberger, drums
(Jazz)
“What‘s important is to have something to say, whether you connect with 10 people or 6 million.” – Camila Cortina Bello
Camila Cortina Bello is an internationally recognized, award winning pianist, educator, musicologist and composer.
Her artistic identity is born of the sounds and rhythms of her original Cuban roots expressed through the lens of jazz, classical and world music that she has encountered along the way. She feels like fusion and cross-overs are as intrinsic to her work as to her “mulato” DNA.
In Cuba, Camila collaborated and shared the stage with acclaimed musicians such as Joaquín Betancourt and Bobby Carcasses. There, she studied classical piano and ethnomusicology and graduated in 2010 with a major in musicology. She is a recipient of the Berklee World Tour Full Tuition Scholarship, earning a dual major in Jazz Composition and performance and a Master's in Contemporary Global Performance.
After her studies, Camila moved to Singapore where she performed as a pianist and music director for different international bands across Asia, including Indonesia and Malaysia. She is very present in the national and international music scenes, collaborating with noteworthy artists such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Dianne Reeves, Paquito d”Rivera, Miguel Zenon, and Linda May Oh to name a few, and performing at Festivals worldwide.
Camila was an awardee of New Music USA's “Next Jazz Legacy,” which supports emerging women in jazz.
A selection of original music, including some of the compositions on her first EP, “Sonera,” released in 2023 and never performed live until now.
Accompanied by her quartet, she will reflect on the role of women and ancestry, paying tribute to her Afro Cuban roots while acknowledging her interactions with other cultures around the world.
As someone who has lived in many places, Camila treats her music as a vehicle to tell her story, raise awareness, and address challenging topics of today’s life in a positive way. Some of the compositions include excerpts with the spoken word of political activists and philosophers, natural sounds, and noises from streets she has walked to immerse the listener in a more cinematic experience.
It will be an opportunity to travel through music and improvisation, bring people together, and spread love and gratitude while connecting with the sounds of Mother Earth.
Her EP “ Sonera” is available on all streaming platforms.
