Claudia Acuña: Latin Grammy Nominee for Best Album 2019
When Claudia Acuña arrived in New York City in 1995, she quickly gained recognition as a leading voice on a scene rapidly being transformed by a wave of brilliant Latin American musicians. Part of the roiling cadre of creatively ambitious young players centered on Small’s, the Chilean vocalist plunged into collaborations with masters such as Jason Lindner, Harry Whitaker, Arturo O'Farrill, Guillermo Klein, and bassist Avishai Cohen, who co-produced her critically hailed 2000 debut Wind From the South (Verve).
Her five albums as a leader established Acuña as a creative force, from 2002’s Rhythm of Life(Verve) and 2004’s Luna (MaxJazz) though 2008’s In These Shoes (Zoho Music) and 2009’s strikingly beautiful En Este Momento (Marsalis Music). Whether putting her stamp on popular Latin American ballads, reimagining jazz standards from a South American perspective, or bringing infusing Afro-Caribbean material with a wide rhythmic sensibility, Acuña stands out as a passionate and emotionally incisive singer with a gleaming, burnished bronze tone.
More than a long-awaited new album, Turning Pages is an exquisite reintroduction to a singer who has thrived at the cusp of jazz and Latin American music. The project captures an artist in the process of reinventing herself, with a program of strikingly melodic original songs expressing her singular vision. Featuring a stellar cast of collaborators, Acuña’s first new recording in a decade makes a compelling case that while keeping a lower profile she’s been pluming new emotional depths. “This felt like the right time to introduce myself as a composer,” she says, “and introduce me.”
Pablo Vergara Pianist
An award-winning musician who has performed across four continents, Pablo Vergara has worked and recorded with artists like saxophone legend Gato Barbieri, Claudia Acuña, Ibrahim Maalouf, the Zemlinsky Quartet, Fred Wesley, Bebel Gilberto and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
An active performer in the New York jazz scene, Vergara's piano playing was featured in Claudia Acuña´s "Turning Pages" which was nominated for Best Jazz Album of the Year in the Latin Grammys 2019.
Pablo Vergara composed and produced the score for Alejandro Fernandez Almendras's "To Kill A Man", winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival and Dutch Circle of Film Critics Award at Rotterdam Film Festival. In the last two years, Vergara also composed and produced the original soundtrack for Fernandez Almendras last two films: Chilean box-office hit "My Amigo Alexis" and the French-Czech black and white drama "The Play".
Vergara's performance credits include Newport Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, Istanbul Is Sanat, Paris' Le Zenith, New York's Central Park SummerStage and Australia's Sidney Festival, amongst many others.
