BIOGRAPHY
César Orozco is a prolific Cuban/Venezuelan pianist, violinist, vocalist, composer, arranger, producer, and educator. After developing an important career in Venezuela, Mr. Orozco moved to the United States in 2012 and enrolled with a full tuition Assistantship to The Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he earned a Graduate Performance Diploma (GPD) in 2014. Since relocating to the New York tri-state area in 2015, Mr. Orozco has become an in-demand pianist as a sideman as well as a leader of his own projects. Some of the artists he has worked with include Paquito D’Rivera, Pedrito Martinez, Gary Thomas, Yosvany Terry, Flavio Sala, Luisito Quintero, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Luis Enrique, Itai Kriss, Troy Roberts, Paul Bollenback, Albita Rodriguez, and Giovanni Hidalgo just to name a few.
Orozco has developed an innovative approach to a fusion of Venezuelan and Cuban traditional music with Jazz along with his project Kamarata Jazz which he created in Venezuela back in 2006. He has participated in more than 80 albums and his recordings as a leader include “Son con Pajarillo” (2007), “Orozcojam” (Guataca, 2010, awarded for Best vocal/Instrumental album at Cubadisco 2012), “No Limits for Tumbao” (Alfi Records, 2015), “Stringwise”, (a duo with the outstanding Venezuelan cuatro player Jorge Glem), and the latest one, “Rooted Forward” (2020). He is also a recipient of a DownBeat Magazine's 2014 Student Music Award for Original Composition (Orozcojam) Small Ensemble Outstanding Performance.
Throughout his career, Orozco has toured extensively across the United States, Europe, Latin America and Australia, participating in some of the most renowned music festivals around the world such as the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, the Cervantino Festival in Mexico, and the Jazz al Parque in Bogota, Colombia. As a bandleader, he has performed at venues such as the Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Bolivar Hall (London), the Bird's Basement Jazz Club (Melbourne, Australia), the Bimhuis Jazz Club ( Amsterdam), Joe's Pub, The Lincoln Center, and Terraza 7 in New York City among others.
SonAhead is Orozco's latest project, where In addition to his work on piano, arrangements, and compositions, Orozco takes center stage as the lead vocalist, marking an exciting new chapter in his career. The name "SonAhead" speaks to its essence: a fusion of Cuban son—a foundational genre for what we now recognize as salsa—infused with elements of modern jazz, electronic music, and Cuban timba, a vibrant style that emerged in the 1990s which has deeply influenced Orozco since his teenage years.
As an arranger and/or composer, Mr. Orozco has written music for a wide range of ensembles and instrumentations, including but not limited to symphony orchestras, big bands, salsa combos, string quartets, string quintets, and brass quintets. He has been commissioned by The Baltimore School for The Arts, the Chamber String Orchestra from the MCYO at Strathmore in Maryland, The Netherlands Blazers Ensemble (NBE), Raíces Jazz Orchestra from Miami FL, the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, and the Frankfurt Radio Big Band among others. He has two Latin Grammy nominations for Best Arrangement, one in 2019 for his piece “Imprevisto”, performed and recorded by Pablo Gil & The Raices Jazz Orchestra featuring Peruvian percussionist and Grammy winner Tony Succar, and the second one in 2021 for “Tierra Mestiza”, the opening number of the musical show America Viva by New Land Theatricals. Within the musical theater field, his credits as a composer, music director, and/or arranger include the Venezuelan musicals "Orinoco" and "Venezuela Viva" (with more than 100 international performances), the autobiographical monologue "Las Ciudades Que Soy" starred and written by the recognized Cuban actress Beatriz Valdez, and "La UltimaPartida" (The Final Draw), a play with live improvised Jazz piano directed by Monica Lopez-Gonzalez which was premiered at the Baltimore Theater Project in 2014.
Orozco was born in Cuba in 1980 and earned a degree in Violin Performance and Ensemble Conducting from the National School of Arts in Havana, Cuba in 1998. The same year, he traveled to Venezuela after accepting an invitation from the Carabobo Symphony Orchestra as a violinist. In Venezuela, Mr. Orozco performed and/or recorded with some of the most important local artists, including Guaco, Rafael “El Pollo” Brito, Andres Briceño, Maria Teresa Chacín, Soledad Bravo, Kiara, Karina, Frank Quintero, Aquiles Báez, Ilan Chester, Orlando Poleo, Gerardo Rosales, Alfredo Naranjo, Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Carabobo Symphony Orchestra, Pablo Gil, Simón Díaz and flautist Huáscar Barradas among many others. He also served as a Professor of Jazz Piano, Harmony, and Ensembles for more than three years at the National Experimental University of the Arts in Caracas.
Besides having a very busy performing career, Mr. Orozco is currently an active clinician and educator. He has taught lectures and master classes at some of the most prestigious institutions in the United States such as the Baltimore School for the Arts, Loyola University (Baltimore, MD), Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA), Salem State University, (Boston, MA), and the “New York Arts Program” (NY). He also has his private studio in Dumont NJ and is Music Director and Head of the Performing Arts at Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia, NY.