Report by: Prensa Latina
The Arts of Cuba festival: from the island to the world, which brings together some 400 artists (about 200 directly from Cuba), opens its doors today 8 May, in the United States with a show featuring top musicians.
Until 3 June, he John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC is the venue where the American public can enjoy an important showcase of music, theatre, dance, visual arts, design and cooking from Cuba.
The Buena Vista Social Club diva, Omara Portuondo, the singer Aymée Nuviola, the pianists Aldo López-Gavilán and Jorge Luis Pacheco, the saxophonist Yosvany Terry and the guitarist Alí Arango will hadline the opening night of the biggest event dedicated to Cuban culture ever in the US.
The inaugural show, which will take place at the Eisenhower Theatre, with a capacity of 1,100 people, will also include the Miguel Faílde orchestras and the Mozartian Lyceum of Havana.
The curator of the event and vice president of International Programming at the Kennedy Centre, Alicia Adams, told Prensa Latina last week that the tickets for this inaugural presentation had already sold out.
According to Adams, the event in which more than 200 artists from the island and others based outside the island will take part, will bring a lot of energy and will appeal to a large sector of the American community.
According to Adams, the festival ‘will show the humanity and beauty of Cuban arts’, and the wealth of the Caribbean island ‘in terms of its people and culture’.
Asked about her tips for the festival, the curator mentioned the popular Los Van Van orchestra and the López-Nussa family (Ernan, Harold, Ruy and Ruy Adrián), of talented musicians who will give the ‘extraordinary opportunity to see them together stage’.
The National Ballet of Cuba will also be here, on the 40th anniversary of the company’s debut in the United States, added Adams, who considered the anticipated presence of the prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, director of the company, very special.
She also mentioned the different exhibitions that open to the public today, by visual artists such as Roberto Fabelo, Emilio Pérez and Manuel Mendive.
Gilda Almeida, director of International Programming, said that it is an honor to host this great event, to which the Kennedy Centre, one of the most important institutions of its kind in the country, will be fully devoted.
I hope that people from all over the world come to this show, it will be fantastic, she said.
Cuba 50 
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