Arturo O’Farrill

Founder and Artistic Director, Belongó

Speaking at Annual Meeting and Closing Luncheon

Arturo O’Farrill, pianist, composer, and educator, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Arturo’s professional career began with the Carla Bley Band and continued as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte.

In 2007, he founded the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, now known as Belongó as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the performance, education, and preservation of Afro Latin music.

An avid supporter of all the arts, Arturo has performed with Ballet Hispanico, Ron Brown’s EVIDENCE Dance company, and the Malpaso Dance Company, for whom he has written several ballets.

Arturo’s well-reviewed and highly praised “Afro-Latin Jazz Suite” from the album CUBA: The Conversation Continues took the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition as well as the 2016 Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Recording. In addition, his composition “Three Revolutions” from the album Familia-Tribute to Chico and Bebo also received the Best Instrumental Composition Grammy in 2018. Arturo’s album, Fandango at the Wall in New York won yet another Grammy award in 2023.

Arturo is Professor of Music at The New School in New York City and has been a Steinway Artist for many years.

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