Closing Omar Sosa’s week as Resident Artistic Director reunites the pianist and composer with Senegalese kora maestro Seckou Keita. First meeting in 2012, the two artists immediately felt a kindred connection, and their co-led 2017 debut album, Transparent Water, was a primarily improvised release heralded as “beautiful, rhapsodic… spiritual” by Songlines. Joined here by Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Orvalles, Sosa and Keita bring their remarkable chemistry to the Miner stage with material from their 2021 album SUBA — a hymn to hope, to a new dawn of compassion and real change in a post-pandemic world.

A world traveler who carries the verdant sounds and traditions of his native Cuba wherever he goes, seven-time GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY nominee Omar Sosa has forged powerful creative alliances around the globe. Born in Camagüey, Cuba and now a resident of Mallorca, Spain, the renowned jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader is celebrated for blending Afro-Cuban, Latin jazz, and global influences. Sosa’s adventurous style has invigorated the Latin jazz scene worldwide, and he has released a succession of touchstone albums in settings ranging from solo piano to big band, and in collaboration with master musicians including Paolo Fresu, Adam Rudolph, Seckou Keita, former SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director John Santos, and the NDR Big Band. His week as an SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director gives an enlightening glimpse into his diverse range of musical pursuits.