Elio Villafranca Sextet
Cuban-born classical pianist & Jazz sextet
Saturday, February 15, 2025
Celebrating the musical journey of Cuban Classical Composer Ernesto Lecuona to the original sounds of Jazz legend Horace Silver.
Elio Villafranca - Piano
Vincent Herring - Alto Sax/Clarinet
Freddie Hendrix - Trumpet
Edward Perez - Bass
Dion Parson - Drums
Mauricio Herrera - Percussion
Born in the Pinar del Río province of Cuba, Steinway Artist, Grammy Nominated, and 2014 Jalc Millennium Swing Award! recipient pianist and composer Elio Villafranca was classically trained in percussion and composition at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba.
Mr Villafranca’s music – while being enormously entertaining in it being tous les sens de l’esthétique des beaux-arts – has also always attempted to penetrate the skin of his singular humanity. - Latin Jazz Network - June 15, 2023 Raul Da Gama
Ticket Pricing
Venue
Prior-Jollek Hall - Antilles School Campus - St. Thomas - U.S. Virgin Islands.
Adults - $30 Teachers - $10 Students - $5 Children - Free of charge
6:00pm - Courtyard open with small meals by Amalia Café & Live Music
7:00pm - Start of the concert
To purchase your ticket, click the link below:
Elio Villagranca
Born in the Pinar del Río province of Cuba, Steinway Artist, Grammy Nominated, and 2014 Jalc Millennium Swing Award! recipient pianist and composer Elio Villafranca was classically trained in percussion and composition at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba.
As a Pianist/composer Elio Villafranca is the latest in a decades-long line of Cuban musicians who has integrated African, European and Pan-American musical concepts.
Since his arrival in the U.S. in mid 1995, Elio Villafranca is at the forefront of the latest generation of remarkable pianists, composers and bandleaders.
Through all of his musical adventures Mr. Villafranca has made it clear that while his musical roots were Afro-Cuban, that musical route almost always ran parallel with the twin cultural tributary that was indeed improvised Afro-American music.
In fact, his use of the word ‘jass’ in the name of his ensemble permanently inked his [Mr Villafranca’s] name in the music continuum as being a ‘black musician’, deeply rooted in the Black Music of the Americas, to give the cultural topography of this improvised music the widest possible sweep.
In 2015, Mr. Villafranca was among the 5 pianists hand picked by Chick Corea to perform at the first Chick Corea Jazz Festival, curated by Chick him self at JALC.
Elio Villafranca’s new album Caribbean Tinge (Motema), received a 2014 Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Nomination by the German Records Critics Award.
He also received a 2010 Grammy Nomination in the Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year category.
Mr. Villafranca was also honored by BMI with the BMI Jazz Guaranty Award and received the first NFA/Heineken Green Ribbon Master Artist Music Grant for the creation of his Concerto for Mariachi, for Afro-Cuban Percussion and Symphony Orchestra.
Over the years Elio Villafranca has recorded and performed nationally and internationally as a leader, featuring jazz master artists such as Pat Martino, Terell Stafford, Billy Hart, Paquito D’Rivera, Eric Alexander, and Lewis Nash, David Murray, and Wynton Marsalis among other.
In 2017 Elio Villafranca received The Sunshine Award, founded in 1989 to recognize excellence in the performing arts, education, science and sports of the various Caribbean countries, South America, Centro America, and Africa.
He is based in New York City and he is a faculty member of Temple University, Philadelphia, The Juilliard School of Music, New York University, and Manhattan School of Music in NYC.
