FIU Music Festival: Liszt & Jiménez: Piano, Song and Virtuosity

Romantic-era piano virtuosity and Afro-Cuban concert music share the program in a FIU Music Festival performance centered on Franz Liszt and José Manuel Jiménez. The concert takes place Thursday, October 22 at the Herbert and Nicole Wertheim Performing Arts Center as part of the FIU Wertheim School of Music & Performing Arts 2026-2027 season. Presented in collaboration with the South Florida Chapter of the American Liszt Society, the program marks Liszt’s birthday while placing his music alongside works by Jiménez, an Afro-Cuban composer and virtuoso pianist active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

FIU Artist-in-Residence Kemal Gekić performs solo piano works by Liszt, drawing on a long association with the composer’s repertoire and with the Miami International Piano Festival. Pianist José López presents Jiménez’s solo piano and chamber works, highlighting a composer whose music reflects a lesser-heard Afro-Cuban voice within the classical tradition.

Guest soprano Sonya Baker joins López for a selection of Lieder. Baker, who made her Carnegie Hall debut with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, brings the vocal portion of the evening into a program spanning solo piano, chamber music and song.