Artists
Cosette Justo Valdés was born and raised in Cuba. A daughter of amateur musicians, she’s loved music all her life, and she began learning piano and music theory from age 8. At 18 she saw a symphony orchestra for the first time and immediately knew she wanted to be a conductor. She took up conducting in 2003 at the National Institute of the Arts of Cuba, in Havana, and after graduating in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in Orchestral Conducting with Maestro Jorge López Marín, she was appointed Music & Artistic Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Oriente (OSO) (Santiago, Cuba), Cuba’s second-most important orchestra.
During her first three years at the Orquesta Sinfónica de Oriente, Cosette organized and conducted numerous concerts of a broad repertoire of early music, classical, jazz, pop, and traditional Cuban music, which allowed her to start consolidating her foundation as a conductor.
In 2012, Cosette was admitted to study her Masters Degree with Maestro Klaus Arp in the Mannheim Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (State University for Music & Performing Arts) in Germany. During her time in Europe she had the opportunity to conduct many orchestral, choral, and chamber ensembles while remaining Music & Artistic Director of the OSO in Cuba and returning often to conduct it.
Cosette held from January 2019 to March 2022 the position of Assistant Conductor and Community Ambassador of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, in Canada. During her 3 years in this position, she has been able to conduct all types of styles of music with the ESO, and her connection to the musicians of this orchestra is really special. As a result of this wonderful relationship with the ESO Cosette was appointed in March 2022 the Resident Conductor of this marvelous orchestra.
She has been invited in Canada as a guest conductor by the Edmonton Opera, iMusici de Montréal, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra as well as the Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra in Mexico. This coming season she will be conducting the Saskatooon Symphony Orchestra, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Island Sympony Orchestra and San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (US).
Since its debut in 1969, the National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra has been praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary educational programs, and its prominent role in nurturing Canadian creativity. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, reaching and representing the diverse communities we live in with daring programming, powerful storytelling, inspiring artistry, and innovative partnerships.
Alexander Shelley began his tenure as Music Director in 2015, following Pinchas Zukerman’s 16 seasons at the helm. Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and former Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra (2009–2017), he has been in demand around the world, conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Stockholm Philharmonic, among others, and maintains a regular relationship with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and the German National Youth Orchestra.
Each season, the NAC Orchestra features world-class artists such as the newly appointed Artist-in-Residence James Ehnes, Angela Hewitt, Joshua Bell, Xian Zhang, Gabriela Montero, Stewart Goodyear, Jan Lisiecki, and Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds. As one of the most accessible, inclusive, and collaborative orchestras in the world, the NAC Orchestra uses music as a universal language to communicate the deepest of human emotions and connect people through shared experiences.
Leo was born in Argentina in 1979. He moved to the United States in 2001.
He has been traveling the world playing music for the last twenty years.
He has eight albums as a leader and dozens as a sideman.
He believes in music as a force of change.
He practices the saxophone in hotel rooms.
He doesn't support MP3 culture.
He cooks pretty spicy food, like his music.
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Terri Lyne Carrington is a 2021 NEA Jazz Master and three-time Grammy award-winning drummer, composer, producer, and educator. She serves as Founder and Artistic Director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice in Boston, MA, and artistic director for the Carr Center in Detroit, MI. In 2013 she won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue, which established her as the first woman ever to win in this category. She has performed on over 100 recordings and has toured and recorded with luminaries such as Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Stan Getz, Esperanza Spalding, and numerous others. Her current band project, Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science released their debut album, Waiting Game, in 2019 which was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award. Ms. Carrington is an honorary doctorate recipient from Berklee College and Manhattan School of Music.
In a career that spans two decades and encompasses a broad array of musical ventures, saxophonist Mark Turner has emerged as a towering presence in the jazz community. With a distinctive, personal tone, singular improvisational skills and an innovative, challenging compositional approach, he’s earned a far-reaching reputation as one of jazz’s most original and influential musical forces.
Born in 1965 in Ohio and raised in Southern California, Turner grew up surrounded by music. “There always was a lot of R&B and jazz and soul and gospel going on in the house all the time,” he recalls. “This was in the early ’70s, when the whole integration and civil rights thing had begun to go mainstream, and my mother and stepfather were in the first wave of young black professionals and intellectuals who moved to upper-middle-class white neighborhoods. They and their friends were always going out to see live jazz. I was intrigued by that, and I was intrigued by the whole history of jazz music and African-American culture, as well as the music itself. And my father, who died when I was one and a half, had played saxophone, so maybe I was looking for a connection with him too.”
In 2013, Turner entered an exciting new creative phase, with his varied talents showcased on a variety of notable new recording projects. He is also featured on new or upcoming releases by pianist Stefano Bollani, guitarist Gilad Hekselman, pianist Baptiste Trotignon and the Billy Hart Quartet, of which Turner’s been a member for nearly a decade and with whom he recorded two previous albums. He’s also continuing his work as a member of Fly, a collaborative trio with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard.
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