Symphony Biographies
Jonathan Suazo Quartet
Jonathan Suazo is a Puerto Rican Saxophonist / Composer. His music is inspired by artists like Kenny Garrett, Miguel Zenón, David Sánchez, John Coltrane and many more. His new Ricano project highlights traditional rhythms from his Puerto Rican / Dominican roots within a Cross-Cultural Fusion container of his many musical influences.
He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz & Caribbean Music at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, and his Master’s Degree in Contemporary Performance at Berklee College of Music (Global Jazz Institute). He's been named one of the Top Ten Emerging Jazz Artists of 2023 by The Recording Academy. He’s a 2023 Winter South Arts Jazz Road Artist, a 2023 New Music USA Creator Fund Recipient, and has been taught by renowned musicians like: David Sanchez, Terri Lyne Carrington, Marco Pignataro, John Patitucci, Danilo Pérez, George Garzone and Joe Lovano.
Jonathan has also performed in venues such as Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Martinique Jazz Fest, DR Jazz Fest, Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Fest, SF JAZZ, Elephant Room Austin TX, SXSW, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, The MFA Boston, and many more. He's collaborated / performed with artists such as: Terri Lyne Carrington, Paoli Mejías, ILé, Miguel Zenón, Emil "El Hijo de Borikén" Martínez, David Sánchez, Kevin Harris, Rakalam Bob Moses, Giovanni Hidalgo, Christian Nieves, Ricky Rodriguez, Tito Matos, Ricardo Pons, Calma Carmona, William Cepeda, Jon Secada, Pedro Capó, Obie Bermudez, Hans Glawischnig, Humberto Ramirez, Silverio Perez, Tony Escapa, Charlie Sepúlveda and many others.
Jonathan is also co-leader of the free improv/experimental group, the No Base Trio. His new afro-caribbean project RICANO is currently on tour as it leads to the official album release with Ropeadope Records in August 2023.
“Jonathan Suazo is undoubtedly one of the most important Puerto Rican musicians of his generation. His ability as a performer and improviser is matched by his creativity and conceptualism, and he continues to seek new challenges as an artist as well as new experiences for his audience. Highly recommended".
- Miguel Zenón
Renown Saxophonist / Composer / Educator
“Jonathan Suazo is one of the most talented and versatile young artists I've had the blessing to hear and teach in recent years. In my opinion, he has one of the most important qualities an artist could have; great rhythmic flow, feeling and a strong desire to face a new situation. This makes me feel excited about a new generation of musicians”.
-David Sánchez
Renown Grammy Award Winning Saxophonist / Composer / Educator
“To us, Jonathan's work and character has aligned with our commitment to amplifying the creative autonomy and movement building necessary to the future of arts, music and culture, especially in a city like Boston. he is a natural collaborator always seeking to create or reimagine new music projects, as well as build new relationships with musicians and other creators desiring to make bigger impact through their work”.
-Catherine Morris
Founder + Executive Director of BAMS FEST INC
Julian Loida Vibraphone & String Trio
Called “one of the Boston music scene's most valuable players” by The Art Fuse, Julian Loida is a percussionist, composer, and producer. Loida’s musical curiosity and open-mindedness has propelled him towards a wide-range of sounds, genres, and artistic endeavors. He’s performed jazz, folk, and classical, collaborating with dancers, visual artists, songwriters/composers, and musicians of all stripes. The thirst to participate in and experience this range of sounds is partly a product of Loida’s synesthesia. Music is a full- body experience for him, with sounds often invoking involuntary sensations of color, texture, or even taste.
Loida often writes and arranges for his projects and ensembles (the Cuban/Brazilian band INÃ, jazz quintet Mojubá, chamber-folk band Night Tree), and his music has been featured in film, ads, and dance performances. His interdisciplinary projects aim at breaking down artistic barriers. The evening-length solo-project Recital of Dedications incorporates speech, visual media, and music into a series of dedications to individuals, historical moments, and more. In 2018, he released the album Bach LIVE!, featuring J.S. Bach’s music arranged for percussion. Loida’s 2019 release, Wallflower, marks his solo-album debut, and also provides the clearest distillation of his voice as a composer to date. Loida’s discography continues to grow with singles and EP’s featuring vibraphone and electronics to solo piano. Julian is preparing to release his second full-length solo record in the spring of 2023.
Loida has toured internationally as a featured artist at Korrö, Sweden’s largest folk music festival, and played some of the most prestigious music festivals in the U.S. such as Spoleto, New World Festival, the Exit Zero jazz festival, Caramoor American Roots Festival, and Round Top Music Festival. He has performed with groups such as Alarm Will Sound, Castle of Our Skins, Parsonsfield, the Callithumpian Consort, Tonina Saputo, Fabiola Mendez, Veronica Robles, Taylor Ashton, Alkinoos Ioannidis, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, The New Bedford Symphony, and MassOpera.
As an educator, Loida shares his scores and deep rhythmic knowledge with students of all ages. In 2017, he received his Master’s Degree in Classical Percussion from New England Conservatory.
Summer Camargo & Band
Summer Camargo, 21, is a trumpet student at The Juilliard School and Jerome Greene Fellowship recipient, is entering her fifth year of college majoring in Jazz Studies. Summer, born and raised in Hollywood, Florida and most recently joined Lenny Pickett and The Saturday Night Live House Band on NBC.
She recorded her debut album (which will be out in spring 2023) under Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Blue Engine, won first place in the International Trumpet Guild’s Ryan Anthony Trumpet Memorial Competition, covered for Wynton Marsalis on the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s 2022 Big Band Holidays Tour, and has been performing with her sextet in prestigious venues in NYC such as Dizzy’s and Birdland.
She is the first ever triple crown winner in the history of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington, winning in 2018 the Ella Fitzgerald Best Soloist award, the J. Douglas White Student Composition Contest, and winning first place in the festival with her high school, Dillard Center for the Arts. As a composer, she has had two of her original big band compositions performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in Rose Hall, one of them performed during their gala in spring of 2022. Summer is a proud Conn Selmer/Bach artist.
Esteban Castro:
Esteban Castro is a 20-year-old pianist and composer based in New York City. He performs internationally with his own band and as an in-demand sideman. Among others, he has played with Billy Drummond, Francesco Cafiso, Gilad Hekselman, Giveton Gelin, Joe Farnsworth, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Marcus Miller, Mark Whitfield, Russell Hall, Ted Nash, and Wayne Escoffery. As a leader and a sideman, has performed at venues such as The Blue Note, The Montreux Jazz Festival, NPR Tiny Desk, Birdland, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Jazz Gallery, and Smalls. He has also toured around the US and in Australia, Canada, France, Indonesia, Italy, Hong Kong, Peru, Singapore, and Switzerland. Esteban is currently a junior at the Juilliard School on a full scholarship, and he studies privately with Fred Hersch.
Esteban started playing the piano at age 4, and quickly found himself improvising and composing at a very young age. This led to the beginning of his jazz journey at age 6. At age 9, he began his studies at Jazz House Kids, and a year afterwards he attended the Manhattan School of Music precollege as a double major in jazz and classical piano. At age 13, Esteban was the First Prize Winner in the Montreux Jazz Piano Solo Competition in 2016, making him the youngest ever to receive this award. Then, at 14, he was the youngest First Prize recipient at the 2017 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. He entered various high school programs such as the Grammy Band in 2017 and 2018, the 2019 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, and was selected as a 2019 YoungArts Finalist. He also won a variety of classical piano competitions, including the 2019 MSM Precollege Philharmonic Concerto Competition, playing Prokofiev’s 1st Piano Concerto. After graduating from high school, he won the Grand Bohemian Prize at the 2022 American Jazz Pianist Competition, and was selected among five finalists for the prestigious 2023 American Pianist Association Competition.
Esteban also works as an avid composer, having composed over 50 original works, including a five movement suite for piano trio. He has garnered three ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards, and has won fifteen Downbeat Student Music Awards. In 2018, he was commissioned by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to write a big band arrangement for the Thelonious Monk 100th birthday celebration.
Esteban routinely donates his time and performances to charitable causes such as the Jazz Ambassadors, the American Cancer Society, Haiti Disaster Relief, Aid to Victims of Hurricane Maria, and to provide musical instruments for needs-based students. In 2021, he led a benefit concert for the GHESKIO Haitian Global Health Alliance at the Jazz Gallery, and raised $1400 for victims of the 2021 Haiti Earthquake.
Raul Reyes Bueno:
Seeking a new direction for his music career, Cuban-born bassist and composer Raul Reyes moved to the United States in 2010. Reyes has been described as a bassist with “advanced sense of rhythm, beautiful sound, time, and solos.” Reyes’s versatility in traditional jazz and contemporary jazz trends, along with his cheerful charisma has earned him opportunities to work with jazz artists such as Tia Fuller, Arturo O’Farril, Victor Lewis, Quincy Davis, Dan Haerle, Ed Soph, Mark Sherman, among many others.
Raul holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Bass Performance from the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) and a Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance from the University of North Texas (UNT). While at UNT, he became a member of the seven-time GRAMMY-nominated One O’Clock Lab Band, appearing on their album Rhythm of the Road. He also found opportunities to perform with luminaries including Jimmy Heath, John Beasley, Doc Severinsen, and Billy Hart.
In 2018, Reyes joined saxophonist John Petrucielli’s Quartet with whom he has toured the United States several times. He has also toured and collaborated with renowned Latin artists such as Tito Puente Jr., Maelo Ruiz, Willie Gonzales, and Mexican singer Carlos Rivera.
Since he moved to New York City, he can often be seen performing at premiere jazz clubs such as Birdland, Dizzy’s, Smalls Jazz Club, Mezzrow, and Blue Note. Raul currently holds the bass chair of the Juilliard Artist Diploma program.
John Sturino:
Julliard-trained drummer and composer John Sturino is establishing himself as one of the most promising new voices of his generation.
Sturino's main bandleader project is BLOW GLOBE, a 10-piece chamber jazz ensemble that fuses the sounds of instrumental jazz and classical with the ethos of contemporary electronic and songwriter musics. The ensemble's debut album will be released June 2024 on Sturino's own Modus Operandi Records.
Sturino mainstains an active schedule as a music educator, having led masterclasses throughout the United States, Australia, Colombia, Cayman Islands, and China. Sturino is a regular faculty member of the Standord Jazz Workshop and maintains a private lesson studio both in-person and virtually.
Sturino is a Yamaha Drums Artist, Prologix Artist, and Vic Firth Educational Artist.
Chris Lewis:
GRAMMY-Award Winning artist Chris Lewis has quickly established himself as an in-demand saxophonist and educator. Lewis has played with artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Michael Buble, Eric Reed, Terell Stafford, The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, John Beasley’s MONK’estra, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Mingus Big Band, Count Basie Orchestra and The Gil Evans Project. He can be seen playing saxophone in Season 5 of “The Marvelous Mrs.Maisel” as well as the most recent season of “The Godfather of Harlem”. Lewis was also prominently featured in clothing company, “Levi’s” Vintage Fall 2022 campaign.
In addition, Lewis has taught clinics on small and large ensemble playing, as well as saxophone, harmony and improvisation at numerous camps, festivals and universities and has served as a guest clinician for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Regional Essentially Ellington Festival. Lewis currently resides in New York City where he maintains a busy playing and teaching schedule.
Jonathan Suazo Quartet
Jonathan Suazo is a Puerto Rican Saxophonist / Composer. His music is inspired by artists like Kenny Garrett, Miguel Zenón, David Sánchez, John Coltrane and many more. His new Ricano project highlights traditional rhythms from his Puerto Rican / Dominican roots within a Cross-Cultural Fusion container of his many musical influences.
He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz & Caribbean Music at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, and his Master’s Degree in Contemporary Performance at Berklee College of Music (Global Jazz Institute). He's been named one of the Top Ten Emerging Jazz Artists of 2023 by The Recording Academy. He’s a 2023 Winter South Arts Jazz Road Artist, a 2023 New Music USA Creator Fund Recipient, and has been taught by renowned musicians like: David Sanchez, Terri Lyne Carrington, Marco Pignataro, John Patitucci, Danilo Pérez, George Garzone and Joe Lovano.
Jonathan has also performed in venues such as Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Martinique Jazz Fest, DR Jazz Fest, Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Fest, SF JAZZ, Elephant Room Austin TX, SXSW, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, The MFA Boston, and many more. He's collaborated / performed with artists such as: Terri Lyne Carrington, Paoli Mejías, ILé, Miguel Zenón, Emil "El Hijo de Borikén" Martínez, David Sánchez, Kevin Harris, Rakalam Bob Moses, Giovanni Hidalgo, Christian Nieves, Ricky Rodriguez, Tito Matos, Ricardo Pons, Calma Carmona, William Cepeda, Jon Secada, Pedro Capó, Obie Bermudez, Hans Glawischnig, Humberto Ramirez, Silverio Perez, Tony Escapa, Charlie Sepúlveda and many others.
Jonathan is also co-leader of the free improv/experimental group, the No Base Trio. His new afro-caribbean project RICANO is currently on tour as it leads to the official album release with Ropeadope Records in August 2023.
“Jonathan Suazo is undoubtedly one of the most important Puerto Rican musicians of his generation. His ability as a performer and improviser is matched by his creativity and conceptualism, and he continues to seek new challenges as an artist as well as new experiences for his audience. Highly recommended".
- Miguel Zenón
Renown Saxophonist / Composer / Educator
“Jonathan Suazo is one of the most talented and versatile young artists I've had the blessing to hear and teach in recent years. In my opinion, he has one of the most important qualities an artist could have; great rhythmic flow, feeling and a strong desire to face a new situation. This makes me feel excited about a new generation of musicians”.
-David Sánchez
Renown Grammy Award Winning Saxophonist / Composer / Educator
“To us, Jonathan's work and character has aligned with our commitment to amplifying the creative autonomy and movement building necessary to the future of arts, music and culture, especially in a city like Boston. he is a natural collaborator always seeking to create or reimagine new music projects, as well as build new relationships with musicians and other creators desiring to make bigger impact through their work”.
-Catherine Morris
Founder + Executive Director of BAMS FEST INC
Julian Loida Vibraphone & String Trio
Called “one of the Boston music scene's most valuable players” by The Art Fuse, Julian Loida is a percussionist, composer, and producer. Loida’s musical curiosity and open-mindedness has propelled him towards a wide-range of sounds, genres, and artistic endeavors. He’s performed jazz, folk, and classical, collaborating with dancers, visual artists, songwriters/composers, and musicians of all stripes. The thirst to participate in and experience this range of sounds is partly a product of Loida’s synesthesia. Music is a full- body experience for him, with sounds often invoking involuntary sensations of color, texture, or even taste.
Loida often writes and arranges for his projects and ensembles (the Cuban/Brazilian band INÃ, jazz quintet Mojubá, chamber-folk band Night Tree), and his music has been featured in film, ads, and dance performances. His interdisciplinary projects aim at breaking down artistic barriers. The evening-length solo-project Recital of Dedications incorporates speech, visual media, and music into a series of dedications to individuals, historical moments, and more. In 2018, he released the album Bach LIVE!, featuring J.S. Bach’s music arranged for percussion. Loida’s 2019 release, Wallflower, marks his solo-album debut, and also provides the clearest distillation of his voice as a composer to date. Loida’s discography continues to grow with singles and EP’s featuring vibraphone and electronics to solo piano. Julian is preparing to release his second full-length solo record in the spring of 2023.
Loida has toured internationally as a featured artist at Korrö, Sweden’s largest folk music festival, and played some of the most prestigious music festivals in the U.S. such as Spoleto, New World Festival, the Exit Zero jazz festival, Caramoor American Roots Festival, and Round Top Music Festival. He has performed with groups such as Alarm Will Sound, Castle of Our Skins, Parsonsfield, the Callithumpian Consort, Tonina Saputo, Fabiola Mendez, Veronica Robles, Taylor Ashton, Alkinoos Ioannidis, the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, The New Bedford Symphony, and MassOpera.
As an educator, Loida shares his scores and deep rhythmic knowledge with students of all ages. In 2017, he received his Master’s Degree in Classical Percussion from New England Conservatory.
Summer Camargo & Band
Summer Camargo, 21, is a trumpet student at The Juilliard School and Jerome Greene Fellowship recipient, is entering her fifth year of college majoring in Jazz Studies. Summer, born and raised in Hollywood, Florida and most recently joined Lenny Pickett and The Saturday Night Live House Band on NBC.
She recorded her debut album (which will be out in spring 2023) under Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Blue Engine, won first place in the International Trumpet Guild’s Ryan Anthony Trumpet Memorial Competition, covered for Wynton Marsalis on the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s 2022 Big Band Holidays Tour, and has been performing with her sextet in prestigious venues in NYC such as Dizzy’s and Birdland.
She is the first ever triple crown winner in the history of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington, winning in 2018 the Ella Fitzgerald Best Soloist award, the J. Douglas White Student Composition Contest, and winning first place in the festival with her high school, Dillard Center for the Arts. As a composer, she has had two of her original big band compositions performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in Rose Hall, one of them performed during their gala in spring of 2022. Summer is a proud Conn Selmer/Bach artist.
Esteban Castro:
Esteban Castro is a 20-year-old pianist and composer based in New York City. He performs internationally with his own band and as an in-demand sideman. Among others, he has played with Billy Drummond, Francesco Cafiso, Gilad Hekselman, Giveton Gelin, Joe Farnsworth, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Marcus Miller, Mark Whitfield, Russell Hall, Ted Nash, and Wayne Escoffery. As a leader and a sideman, has performed at venues such as The Blue Note, The Montreux Jazz Festival, NPR Tiny Desk, Birdland, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Jazz Gallery, and Smalls. He has also toured around the US and in Australia, Canada, France, Indonesia, Italy, Hong Kong, Peru, Singapore, and Switzerland. Esteban is currently a junior at the Juilliard School on a full scholarship, and he studies privately with Fred Hersch.
Esteban started playing the piano at age 4, and quickly found himself improvising and composing at a very young age. This led to the beginning of his jazz journey at age 6. At age 9, he began his studies at Jazz House Kids, and a year afterwards he attended the Manhattan School of Music precollege as a double major in jazz and classical piano. At age 13, Esteban was the First Prize Winner in the Montreux Jazz Piano Solo Competition in 2016, making him the youngest ever to receive this award. Then, at 14, he was the youngest First Prize recipient at the 2017 Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition. He entered various high school programs such as the Grammy Band in 2017 and 2018, the 2019 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, and was selected as a 2019 YoungArts Finalist. He also won a variety of classical piano competitions, including the 2019 MSM Precollege Philharmonic Concerto Competition, playing Prokofiev’s 1st Piano Concerto. After graduating from high school, he won the Grand Bohemian Prize at the 2022 American Jazz Pianist Competition, and was selected among five finalists for the prestigious 2023 American Pianist Association Competition.
Esteban also works as an avid composer, having composed over 50 original works, including a five movement suite for piano trio. He has garnered three ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards, and has won fifteen Downbeat Student Music Awards. In 2018, he was commissioned by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to write a big band arrangement for the Thelonious Monk 100th birthday celebration.
Esteban routinely donates his time and performances to charitable causes such as the Jazz Ambassadors, the American Cancer Society, Haiti Disaster Relief, Aid to Victims of Hurricane Maria, and to provide musical instruments for needs-based students. In 2021, he led a benefit concert for the GHESKIO Haitian Global Health Alliance at the Jazz Gallery, and raised $1400 for victims of the 2021 Haiti Earthquake.
Raul Reyes Bueno:
Seeking a new direction for his music career, Cuban-born bassist and composer Raul Reyes moved to the United States in 2010. Reyes has been described as a bassist with “advanced sense of rhythm, beautiful sound, time, and solos.” Reyes’s versatility in traditional jazz and contemporary jazz trends, along with his cheerful charisma has earned him opportunities to work with jazz artists such as Tia Fuller, Arturo O’Farril, Victor Lewis, Quincy Davis, Dan Haerle, Ed Soph, Mark Sherman, among many others.
Raul holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Bass Performance from the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) and a Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance from the University of North Texas (UNT). While at UNT, he became a member of the seven-time GRAMMY-nominated One O’Clock Lab Band, appearing on their album Rhythm of the Road. He also found opportunities to perform with luminaries including Jimmy Heath, John Beasley, Doc Severinsen, and Billy Hart.
In 2018, Reyes joined saxophonist John Petrucielli’s Quartet with whom he has toured the United States several times. He has also toured and collaborated with renowned Latin artists such as Tito Puente Jr., Maelo Ruiz, Willie Gonzales, and Mexican singer Carlos Rivera.
Since he moved to New York City, he can often be seen performing at premiere jazz clubs such as Birdland, Dizzy’s, Smalls Jazz Club, Mezzrow, and Blue Note. Raul currently holds the bass chair of the Juilliard Artist Diploma program.
John Sturino:
Julliard-trained drummer and composer John Sturino is establishing himself as one of the most promising new voices of his generation.
Sturino's main bandleader project is BLOW GLOBE, a 10-piece chamber jazz ensemble that fuses the sounds of instrumental jazz and classical with the ethos of contemporary electronic and songwriter musics. The ensemble's debut album will be released June 2024 on Sturino's own Modus Operandi Records.
Sturino mainstains an active schedule as a music educator, having led masterclasses throughout the United States, Australia, Colombia, Cayman Islands, and China. Sturino is a regular faculty member of the Standord Jazz Workshop and maintains a private lesson studio both in-person and virtually.
Sturino is a Yamaha Drums Artist, Prologix Artist, and Vic Firth Educational Artist.
Chris Lewis:
GRAMMY-Award Winning artist Chris Lewis has quickly established himself as an in-demand saxophonist and educator. Lewis has played with artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Michael Buble, Eric Reed, Terell Stafford, The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, John Beasley’s MONK’estra, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Mingus Big Band, Count Basie Orchestra and The Gil Evans Project. He can be seen playing saxophone in Season 5 of “The Marvelous Mrs.Maisel” as well as the most recent season of “The Godfather of Harlem”. Lewis was also prominently featured in clothing company, “Levi’s” Vintage Fall 2022 campaign.
In addition, Lewis has taught clinics on small and large ensemble playing, as well as saxophone, harmony and improvisation at numerous camps, festivals and universities and has served as a guest clinician for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Regional Essentially Ellington Festival. Lewis currently resides in New York City where he maintains a busy playing and teaching schedule.
