Havana, July 13 (RHC)—The US jazz band Synthesis will hold a concert in the Cuban capital on Saturday with special guest star, Cuban flutist Orlando Valle ‘Maraca’.  

The recital, scheduled for the National Theater’s Covarrubias Hall, is the group’s second concert in Havana, after which it’ll travel on to the western and central cities of Matanzas and Cienfuegos to perform. The band from Brigham Young University (BYU) is visiting the Caribbean island with students joining the band for performances. Synthesis already shared the stage with the Cuban jazz band led by maestro Joaquín Betancourt, one of the Caribbean nation’s most outstanding jazz musicians. The upcoming concerts will be held on July 15 at the José White Concert Hall in Matanzas and the 16 in Cienfuegos’ Tomas Terry Theater.

The Synthesis Cuba program also consists of academic encounters, lectures and visiting the recording studios of the Musical Editing and Recording Enterprise EGREM and other sites of cultural interest in Cuba. The US group, founded by K. Newell Dayley and directed by Ray Smith, has performed in important jazz events in the USA and the rest of the world, including the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland; the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands and Finland’s Jazz Festival. The ensemble’s repertoire includes styles such as swing, blues, jazz, Latin sounds and fusion.