site.btaGrammy-nominated Pianist Roberto Fonseca Includes Sofia in European Tour

Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca has included SoFest in his European tour this year, the Sofia festival's team said on Thursday. A Grammy-nominated musician, recipient of the French Order of Arts and Letters and the UNESCO Trimalca Award, Fonseca will be in Bulgaria for the spring edition of SoFest. The event will take place on May 11 at Sofia Live Club.

This will be Roberto Fonseca's first visit to Bulgaria with his quartet, which features the legendary percussionist Andres Coayo from the Buena Vista Social Club, who has also performed in Bulgaria with Omara Portuondo. The band also includes Ruly Hernandez (drums) and Felipe Cabrera (bass).

In 2025, SoFest will have three editions and offer the audience many Bulgarian and international star performers with their new projects and premieres, according to the organizers.

Roberto Fonseca was born on March 29, 1975, in Havana, Cuba. He is a composer, arranger, pianist, and a representative of the new generation of musicians from the Buena Vista Social Club. The Guardian describes him as "fabulously gifted pianist, composer and bandleader from Cuba, who wears a leather hat", adding that he "has a gift for melody that outshines many more celebrated peers, yet his virtuosity and invention mean he can hold his own at any jazz club in the world."

In 2018, he met the New Bulgarian Voices choir during a concert in Sofia and decided to invite them for a joint project. They began working together in 2020 during the COVID pandemic with online rehearsals and intensive communication of ideas between Sofia and Havana. The choir's conductor, Prof. Georgi Petkov, created the vocal arrangements, including a new large-scale version of the piece Bulgarian.

Throughout his career, Fonseca has worked with musicians such as Adriano Celentano, Sezen Aksu, Misha Alperin, Enrique Morente, Antonio Zambujo, and has been a pianist for the Buena Vista Social Club. He has performed with Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo, Herbie Hancock, Cachaito Lopez, Mayra Andrade, Raul Midon, Ibrahim Maalouf, Fatoumata Diawara, and many others.