Miguel Zenón

Grammy® Winner, Doris Duke Artist and Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón represents a select group of musicians who have masterfully balanced and blended the often-contradictory poles of innovation and tradition. Widely considered one of the most groundbreaking and influential saxophonists and composers of his generation, he has also developed a unique voice as a conceptualist, concentrating his efforts on perfecting a fine mix between jazz and his many musical influences. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Zenón has released seventeen albums as a leader and has recorded and toured with a wide variety of musicians including Charlie Haden, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, Kurt Elling, Steve Coleman, Joey Calderazzo, David Sanchez, Danilo Perez, Bobby Hutcherson and The SFJAZZ Collective. Zenón has given hundreds of lectures and master classes at institutions all over the world and is a faculty member in the Music & Theater Arts Department at MIT. In 2011 he founded Caravana Cultural in 2011, a program which presents free-of-charge Jazz concerts in rural areas of Puerto Rico. Zenón was selected as the Alto Saxophonist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2020 (when he was also recognized as Arranger of the Year). In 2022 he received an Honorary Doctorate from La Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the highest honor bestowed by the institution. For more info: www.miguelzenon.com