The Golandsky Institute

Jazz Evening and Festival Finale

"The After Hours Set introduced a young jazz pianist, Antonio Madruga, with Florida-based Cuban roots. He was quite impressive and presented a great sound to follow the New Year’s revelry. 'Georgia On My Mind' opened this set, with Sonny Jain on drums and Madruga on piano. 'That’s All' was melancholy, smooth, and richly textured, a very midnight sound, seemingly evoking a mood beyond the young pianist’s years. Madruga’s interpretation, with romantic and reflective passages, was mature and melancholy".
(www.robertaonthearts.com, 2008 New Year's Eve concert)

Biography

Antonio Madruga was born on July 2, 1994 in Florida. From age three, he began to demonstrate a keen ear for music and began formal piano lessons at age five. At age six, he began to attend the Keyboard for Kids program at the University of Miami. By age eight, he was earning awards in local talent events. He also started performing in many different public venues.

Tony made his solo debut for the Miami International Piano Festival in May 2006. He was invited to be a guest performer at Bill Charlap’s Master Class at the 92nd Street Y Jazz Festival in Manhattan in July 2006. He was featured in HBO’s Family Special entitled “The Music in Me.”

In January 2006 Tony was a guest of Danilo Perez at the Panama Jazz Festival. His success resulted in an invitation to perform with his trio at Sweet Rhythm, one of New York’s top Jazz clubs. In June 2007 he was awarded the prestigious Downbeat Magazine student award for outstanding classical solo performance and outstanding jazz performance.

In September 2007 Tony was invited to perform at the Duke Ellington Jazz festival in Washington, DC. The following January he appeared at the Punta Este Jazz Festival in Uruguay with Paquito D’Rivera and with his trio. Last August Tony made a debut appearance at the Van Dyke Café with his quartet in South Beach. He appeared for four nights at the Dizzy Coca Cola Club in NYC in December, 2008.