Join us for the 2023 New Orleans International Guitar Festival on Tuesday, March 28th at 2:00 PM CDT in the Third-Floor Performance Center at the New Orleans Jazz Museum.
Javier Olondo and Geovane Santos will be performing at the New Orleans Jazz Museum for the 2023 New Orleans International Guitar Festival.
There will be a special tribute to Karl LeBlanc.
View the full schedule here.
Javier Olondo
Born in Houston, Texas, Javier Olondo began his musical studies with Rosa Puertas in Barcelona, Spain in 1977. In 1980, he moved to Havana, Cuba where he continued his studies in guitar at the Conservatory Manuel Saumell. At the age of 13, he debuted as a soloist in a special concert in Havana 's First International Guitar Festival. In 1988, he graduated top of his class from the Escuela Nacional de Musica and was the recipient of the Titulo de Oro (Golden Title Award). Upon completion of his higher level studies in 1991 from Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, he moved to Europe where followed an intense schedule of concerts and was awarded a scholarship to attend the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mozarteum, in Salzburg, Austria. There he studied under the tutelage of Eliot Fisk, Joaquin Clerch, and harpsichordist Anthony Spiri. In 1998, he obtained the title of Magister in Arts specializing in guitar. Among other teachers, he has been taught by Manuel Barrueco, David Rusell, Flavio Cucci, and Wolfgang Lendle.
His recordings in radio and television, along with his participation in important festivals and concerts throughout Europe, North, and South America date back to his younger years. In addition to various composers dedicating works to him, he has recorded three critically acclaimed albums. He is a recipient of the Key to the City of Kenner and has been named Honorary Citizen of the City of New Orleans. He is also a member of various established musical ensembles such as trio Sekwenza, Barcelona Nova Musica, and duo Cervantes. As well as working as a music professor at Tulane University, Concordia University of New Orleans, and Cervantes Hispanic School for the arts, he spends time in the summer teaching at the Escola Profissional de Musica Alois Haba in Barcelona, Spain. He also performs ongoing concerts in and out of the United States throughout the year.
Geovane Santos
Geovane Santos, an Afro Brazilian from the city of Belo Horizonte currently living in New Orleans. He is a guitarist, vocalist, composer, researcher, videographer, and educator. Santos’ creative work and scholarship explore the intersectionalities of race, transculturation, culture appropriation, and processes of narrative building in music. Awarded the 2017 Louis Armstrong Foundation Jazz Composer Award through ASCAP in association with the University of New Orleans (UNO), Santos holds a M.A. in Jazz Studies from UNO and is now a second year PhD student in the Latin American Studies program at Tulane University where he is a community engaged scholar through a fellowship with the Mellon Foundation and a New Orleans Center for the Gulf South & Monroe Fellow developing a multimedia project based on memory, heritage, equity, and cultural relevance.
