Latin jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera comes to Israel with his quintet for the second World Jazz Music festival, Dec 10-12, 2026, at the Pais Arts Center in Raanana. The festival has about 20 shows across five spaces, run by artistic director Amit Friedman.
The artist. D’Rivera, 78, was born in Havana and left Cuba in 1980 during a tour in Madrid. He is a multiple Grammy winner and has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Yo-Yo Ma and Chucho Valdes. His music blends jazz, Cuban rhythms and classical music. He will also be guest of honor at the premiere of a documentary about his life.
For this show, Paquito will reunite with his previous long-term Isareli pianist, Alon Yavnai who won a Grammy Award in 2008 as a member of the Paquito D’Rivera Quintet. He is.known for blending classical music, traditional Israeli melodies, and Latin rhythms. Joining him in the quintet are Oscar Stagnaro (bass), Mark Walker (drums and percussion) and Sebastián Laverde (vibraphone and marimba).
Other international guests appearing at the festival: French-Dominican singer Cyrille Aimee, and “The New York Junction” with Walter Blanding and Doug Weiss alongside Israelis Yotam Silberstein and Ziv Ravitz.
Venue: Pais Arts Center, Raanana.
Tickets: Paquito and his quintet will be performing on Thursday, December 10, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Tickets available from Raanana Municipality.