Hector Martignon // Natalia Rose

Hector Martignon

Colombian pianist and composer Hector Martignon has lived in New York for many years and is one of the distinctive voices in contemporary jazz. His music brings together jazz, European classical music, Latin American folk traditions and Afro-Cuban harmonies into a richly layered sound.

Martignon has received multiple Grammy nominations in the Latin Jazz category and spent many years as pianist, arranger and composer in Ray Barretto's New World Spirit sextet. Collaborations have taken him to international stages alongside Paquito D'Rivera, Gato Barbieri, Tito Puente and Paul Simon. He has also contributed to film - among other things to the soundtrack of Eat Drink Man Woman (Ang Lee) and as musical director of Broadway productions.

Beyond performing, he teaches jazz composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München and at Hofstra University in New York. He also published the Salsa Piano Book, a widely used instructional resource for pianists worldwide.

Hector Martignon - piano

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Natalia Rose

The Natalia Rose Quartet is a contemporary ensemble led by Colombian guitarist and composer Natalia Rose. Her music moves between jazz harmonies, melancholic timbres and traditional Colombian rhythms, aiming to create musical portraits that weave together emotions, landscapes and memories.

The debut album Retratos de un Juego de Sombras (2017) was inspired by photographs by Colombian photographer Camila Malaver, documenting everyday life in the communities of Barranco de Loba (Bolívar, Colombia). The second album Impresiones (2021) deepened the ensemble's sound - darker, more powerful and more personal. In March 2025, El Alma (The Souls) was released, featuring a string quartet for the first time: rich in textures, natural sounds and stories from Colombia.