Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Final Program is Announced for Bonaire Heineken Jazz Festival 2008

For the fourth consecutive year, the Bonaire Heineken Jazz Festival 2008 will be held from May 22 to 25, 2008 and it promises to be another huge success. 

The festival will be opened by the Lt. Governor on May 22 with a “Jazz and Poetry” presentation in Fort Oranje. The evening will start off with local “Poets and Musicians”, followed by the main act which will be presented by the well known Izaline Calister and her trio. Izaline will perform her personal musical style, which is a mixture of jazz and the music of her native Curacao.

The second evening, May 23, will be held at Plaza Resort and will start with the Bonaire Studentband, strengthened by other professional musicians from the Festival.  Last year this band “stole the show” with a fantastic performance.  After the Studentband, Frankie Yanga’s Quintet, “Footsteps Ahead”, will perform, with local percussionist Boy Janga and a Cuban saxophonist. The main act this evening will again be performed by Izaline Calister, this time with her full band of nine musicians.

The third evening will also be held at the Plaza Resort and will start with local band, the Jon Hilgers Blues Band, called Tin Foil. This performance will be followed by the Venezulean Jazz band Empatia, led by prize winning Pablo Gil, composer, saxophonist, and flutist.  The main act this third evening will be by Willie Martines with his “La Familia Sextet” playing “New York Style Latin Jazz.” Willie is a professional drummer, percussionist, and singer, and he and his band regularly play at the Lennox Lounge in New York City.

The fourth and final day of the Festival, May 25, will be held at the Divi Flamingo Resort with a Jazz Brunch where festival musicians and local jazz artists will hold a rousing jam session while guests can enjoy a wonderful lunch. Last year this jazz brunch was one of the highlights of the Festival.

Scott Katzev, a Philadelphia saxophonist whose family owns a home on Bonaire, will perform as guest soloist with several of the bands during the Festival, including the Studentband and Tin Foil.

During the Jazz Festival there will be an art exposition at Kas di Arte sponsored by the Bonaire Jazz Foundation. The exposition will open on May 21 at 5:00 PM with live jazz. The expositions on May 22 and 23 will also be accompanied by local jazz groups and guest players from 5:00 PM until 7:00 PM.

Starting times on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be 7:30 PM and events will end around midnight. The Jazz brunch will start at 11:30 AM. Entrance fees are kept low due to generous sponsoring by many of Bonaire’s businesses. Entrance fee for the first evening at Fort Oranje with “Jazz and Poetry” will be NAFl 10.00 (USD $5.62) and for the main concerts on Friday and Saturday the entrance will cost NAFl 30.00 (USD $16.86) for each or NAFl 50.00 (USD $ 28.09) for both nights. A ticket to the Jazz Brunch will cost NAFl 45.00 (USD $25.00) and will include the buffet lunch.

The main sponsors for the Festival are Heineken, RE/MAX Bonaire Homes, Littman’s Jewelers, Rocargo, Maduro & Curiel’s Bank (Bonaire), Plaza Resort, Divi Flamingo Resort, Caribbean Laundry, Notaris Maartense, John Russel Insurance, MultiFunction Management, Playa Trading, and Telbo.  (Source:  Bonaire Jazz Foundation)