GUEST ARTISTS
Sylvia Cuenca’s Band: Bridging Generations Wednesday, September 23, 2026 7:30 pm Thomas J. Long Theater
7TH PERFORMANCE OF 2026–27 ACADEMIC YEAR
SEPTEMBER 23, 2026, 7:30 PM Program selections to be announced from the stage
Sylvia Cuenca’s Band: Bridging Generations is an intergenerational jazz ensemble intentionally constructed to pair seasoned jazz masters with rising contemporary voices, creating a collaborative musical dialogue across different eras of jazz tradition. Their diverse repertoire includes original material written by the band members, new arrangements of the Great American Songbook as well as Latin and Brazilian standards infused with hard-swinging post-bop energy. Rico Jones, tenor saxophone Wallace Roney Jr., trumpet Essiet Essiet, bass David Kikoski, piano Sylvia Cuenca, drum set Will Martins, percussion
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Sylvia Cuenca is an active drummer on the New York and San Francisco Bay Area jazz scenes. She has played with saxophone legend Joe Henderson for four years and trumpet legend Clark Terry for 17 years and toured frequently in Europe and the United States. Additionally, she has performed with George Mraz, the Clark Terry Quintet, Al Grey, Red Holloway, Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess, Marian McPartland, Dianne Reeves, Joe Williams and Lou Donaldson, to name a few. Her diverse career also includes performances with the European-based Vienna Art Orchestra, a live taping of Black Girls Rock concert in New York City with pop star Alicia Keys, shows at Dizzy’s Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Cuenca was a guest clinician for the Sisters in Jazz Program at the IAJE Convention in NYC and the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. She has been a longtime faculty member at the Jazz for Teens and Pre-Teen Program at NJPAC and the Stanford Jazz Workshop in California. Recently she has been on faculty at Roni BenHur’s Summer Jazz Camp in Vermont and an artist-in-residence at various universities in the U.S. and Europe. Cuenca earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in jazz performance from Empire State University in NYC. In 1988 and 1991 she received jazz performance grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and in 1992 she was a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Drum Competition. In 2022 she received San Jose Jazz New Works grant. She has studied with jazz master drummers Adam Nussbaum, Victor Lewis, Keith Copeland, and Brazilian drummer Portinho. Sylvia endorses Canopus Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth sticks and brushes and Remo Drumheads.
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