ZUMIX Latin Ensemble to perform at Panama Jazz Festival

 Special to the Times-Free Press

An ensemble of young musicians from ZUMIX, a local nonprofit providing creative opportunities for young people, will return to perform at the Panama Jazz Festival, which will take place January 12-18, 2025.

Founded by Danilo Pe­rez, a Grammy-winning local musician, ZUMIX parent, and president of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, the festival is one of the preeminent jazz festivals in the world. The students from ZUMIX’s Latin ensemble, ¿Porque Puma?, attended the fes­tival in 2024. They have been invited back this year to perform, present a mu­sic workshop for young artists from Panama, at­tend jazz master classes, and participate in an edu­cational field trip to learn about the country’s rich history.

“We’re thrilled to be returning to Panama this year,” said Madeleine Steczynski, co-founder and executive director of ZUMIX. “Our students had an amazing experi­ence last year, and they’re excited to go back to the festival and perform again.” Several new stu­dents will also join the trip this year, and Steczynski said the group is working hard to prepare for their workshop and perfor­mances.

Learn more about ZU­MIX’s trip to the festival and support their fundrais­ing here.

ZUMIX’s mission is to empower young people to build successful futures for themselves – trans­forming lives and com­munity through music, technology, and creative employment. ZUMIX works with more than 1,000 young people ages 7-18 each year. Free and low-cost programs are

offered out-of-school in instrumental music, song­writing, performance, ra­dio, audio engineering, and audio and video sto­rytelling. ZUMIX part­ners with local schools to bring more arts education opportunities to Boston’s youth. In addition to youth programs, ZUMIX offers free concerts and events for all ages. For more in­formation, visit zumix. org.

For more information, please contact Alyssa Brassil, Vice President of Advancement, at alyssa. [email protected].