Kalí Rodríguez-Peña

Latin-Grammy nominated Cuban trumpeter and composer Kalí Rodríguez-Peña is one of the leading voices of a young generation of Cuban musicians. Born and raised in Havana, Kalí was 14 years old when he caught the attention of Bobby Carcassés, the world-renowned guru of Afrocuban jazz who introduced Kalí to the jazz idiom. After winning top prizes in national jazz events, he was awarded a full scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Jon Faddis and Stefon Harris. Kalí has led his own bands in top venues and festivals in North America, and has shared the stage with musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Chucho Valdés, Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo O'Farrill, Michel Camilo, Esperanza Spalding, Miguel Zenón, David Murray, among others. He has been a finalist for the Cintas Foundation Music Composition Fellowship, was awarded Harlem Stage's WaterWorks Emerging Artist cohort, New Music USA's Creator Development Fund, the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation Scholarship, and was a finalist at the National Trumpet Competition. The music of his album Mélange is featured on the TV show "Let The Right One In" by television network Showtime. He participated in the albums "Familia" by Arturo O'Farrill and Chucho Valdés, "Essence" by Michel Camilo, and "Acertijos" by Pedrito Martínez. He has been a panelist at the Jazz Congress, and a guest lecturer at the Louis Armstrong House Museum, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, and at the University of California, Riverside.