Sometimes the best connections are those we do not expect. During the concert, the masterful Polish Cello Quartet will meet on stage with José Torres – a popular Cuban percussionist living in Poland, a specialist in salsa and jazz. In the first part of the evening, the artists will bring Latin American rhythms to the stage in the works of composers from South America, as well as pieces by Richard Klemm and Michael O’Brien, who were inspired by Latino rhythms and sounds. After the break, the musicians will present Hose Torres’ repertoire arranged by Filip Torres – his son.

The evening will begin with a performance of Bolero by Richard Klemm – a former cellist of the Staatskapelle Berlin, but also a renowned teacher in Germany. And although bolero as a dance originates from Spain, not America, we will easily recognise in the Klemm piece the feisty pulse present in works from the other side of the Atlantic. Michael O’Brien, an ethnomusicologist from the United States, has been inspired by the music of South and Central America. The researcher spent over fifteen years in Buenos Aires, where he conducted field research. His Tres danzas populares argentinas is a suite of folk dances from Argentina, Peru, and Chile. The concert programme also features arrangements by the Dutch cellist Jop ter Haar. The musician took up compositions by Brazilian guitarists – Baden Powell and Yamandu Costa – as well as the work of Mexico’s Silvestre Revueltas.

The guest of the Polish Cello Quartet, José Torres, has not only performed and recorded with the most popular artists of the Polish stage, such as Maryla Rodowicz, Kayah, Ryszard Rynkowski, Stanisław Soyka, and Grzegorz Ciechowski. He is highly valued in the jazz community – he has recorded and performed with, among others, Tomasz Stańko, Ewa Bem, Wojciech Karolak, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Jarosław Śmietana, and Leszek Możdżer. For almost three decades, he has been recognised in the Jazz Forum polls as Poland’s best jazzman in the “percussion instruments” category.