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Cuban-born pianist, composer and educator Camila Cortina and her quintet perform at The Arts Center at Duck Creek on July 24. DC-VISUALMEDIA
The Arts Center at Duck Creek will present the Camila Cortina Quintet on Thursday, July 24, at 6 p.m. as part of its 2025 New Music Series curated by Peter Watrous.
The concert marks the third performance in the summer series and showcases an exhilarating blend of Afro-Cuban traditions, jazz, classical and world music.
Camila Cortina Bello, a Cuban-born pianist, composer and educator, trained in classical piano at Cuba’s premier conservatories and holds a degree in musicology. After extensive performances across Asia, she continued her studies at Berklee College of Music on a full-tuition scholarship. In 2023, she was named a New Music USA Next Jazz Legacy Fellow, an initiative supporting emerging women in jazz.
Cortina has appeared at major festivals including the Cape May Jazz Festival, DC Jazz Festival, Ecuador Jazz Festival and Festival Internacional de Jazz de Punta del Este. She has collaborated with artists such as Paquito D’Rivera, Miguel Zenón, Terri Lyne Carrington and Dianne Reeves. Her solo piano work “Bravura” premiered at London’s Barbican Centre in 2024 and she was a finalist for the Cintas Foundation Brandon Fradd Fellowship in Music Composition. She also appeared on NPR’s “Tiny Desk” series with the Afro-Cuban band OKAN.
The quintet performing at Duck Creek features Maya Quiñones on vocals, Juan Ruiz on clarinet and saxophone, Gerson Lazo-Quiroga on bass and Julian Miltenberger on drums.
The performance will take place outdoors from 6 to 8 p.m., weather permitting. In case of rain, it will be moved indoors. The Arts Center at Duck Creek is at 127 Squaw Road in East Hampton. For more information, visit duckcreekarts.org.
Staff Writer on Jul 14, 2025