The Music Department is honored to welcome the legendary Chucho Valdés for a solo performance at Wellesley College. The Cuban pianist, composer, and arranger is the most influential figure in modern Afro-Cuban jazz. He is the winner of six Grammy Awards and four Latin Grammy Awards. Valdés received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences and was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.

Born in a family of musicians in Quivicán, Havana province, Cuba, Dionisio Jesús “Chucho” Valdés Rodríguez has distilled elements of the Afro-Cuban music tradition, jazz, classical music, rock, and more, into an organic, personal style that has a truly distinct style and substance.