ARTURO O'FARRILL

Pianist, Composer, Educator and GRAMMY Winning Musical Director

Pianist, composer, educator and winner of the Latin Jazz USA Outstanding Achievement Award for 2003, Arturo O'Farrill was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City, the son of the great composer and arranger, Arturo “Chico” O’Farrill.  

Educated at the Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory, and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, he then went on to develop as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Freddy Cole, The Fort Apache Band, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, Carla Bley Big Band and Harry Belafonte. In 1995 Mr. O'Farrill agreed to direct the band that preserved much of his father's music, Chico O'Farrill's Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, which has been in residence at Birdland, New York City's famed nightclub, as well as performing throughout the world as a solo artist and with his smaller groups.

In 2002, at the invitation of Wynton Marsalis, Mr. O'Farrill created the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra for Jazz at Lincoln Center. His debut album with the Orchestra Una Noche Inolvidable earned a GRAMMY award nomination in 2006. 

After leaving Jazz at Lincoln Center and establishing the Orchestra under the umbrella of his nonprofit Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, Arturo and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra won a 2009 GRAMMY for their album, “Song for Chico,” on Zoho Records. As an educator, he has taught master classes, seminars, and workshops throughout the world for students and teachers at all levels. Recently, Mr. O'Farrill received the Distinguished Alumnus Medal from Brooklyn College and served as the Alan and Wendy Pesky Artist in Residence at Lafayette College. In the summer of 2007, Mr. O'Farrill served as Visiting Artist at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and in 2007–2008 was Assistant Professor of Jazz at The University of Massachussetts in Amherst. He is currently on the music faculty of SUNY at Purchase.

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