CubaPLUS Magazine

The 40th edition of the International Jazz Plaza Festival, the most important of this genre in Cuba, will expand its venues in 2025 and for the first time will reach Santa Clara, the main city in the center of the country. Scheduled between January 26 and February 2, the event will also take place in the cities of Havana and Santiago de Cuba and aims to bring together 150 groups of the genre, with about 200 concerts featuring both established figures of jazz in the region and emerging talents.

Specifically at the Santa Clara sub-venue, located 278 kilometers east of Havana, the organizers expect the attendance of more than 30 groups and soloists, led by pianist Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera, a Cuban musician based in the United States and exponent of jazz in the most important international festivals.

Eliot Porta, a member of the Jazz Plaza organizing committee in central Cuba, said that among the most anticipated moments in Santa Clara are the performance of “Nachito” Herrera with the city's symphony orchestra. In Santa Clara, the main spaces of the festival will be the “Leoncio Vidal” and “Las Arcadas” parks, the “La Luna Naranja” club, the “El Mejunje” cultural center, the “Sala Caturla” of the Provincial Library and the “La Caridad” Theater, all emblematic spaces of the cultural life of the city, considered among the most diverse and bohemian in Cuba.

According to Víctor Rodríguez, president of the Jazz Plaza 2025 organizing committee, the current edition of the event will celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the International Colloquium “Leonardo Acosta in memoriam”, as well as the 80th anniversary of Frank Fernández and the 65th anniversary of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry.

The International Jazz Plaza Festival is considered, along with the Havana International Ballet Festival and the New Latin American Film Festival, one of the most important cultural events in Cuba, and its expansion this year to Santa Clara will give it a presence in the western, central and eastern regions of the country.
(Taken from Prensa Latina)