Ramon Valle & Maite Hontele

In the organizer's words:

5th Grand Piano Week

Maite Hontelé
It is no easy task for a European musician to be adopted by the cradle of Latin American music, but Latinos are certain: Maite Hontelé is a true artist, even if she comes from Europe.
The Dutch trumpeter, composer and bandleader proves this with her music, which has been recorded on five albums full of salsa, Cuban son, cha-cha-cha, "urban" salsa, Mozambique, Latin jazz, changuï and rumba.
Unsurprisingly, she has been nominated twice for a Latin Grammy Award and has worked with big names such as Gilberto Santa Rosa, Vicente García and the Aragón Orchestra. She has also toured with Rubén Blades, Yuri Buenaventura, Issac Delgado, Sonora Ponceña and Oscar D' León, to name but a few.
Her last album Cuba Linda was recorded at the legendary Egrem Studios (Buena Vista Social Club).
After a 5-year break, she is now back on stage and looking for a musical adventure together with Ramón Valle.

Ramón Valle
Ramón Valle was born in Holguín, Cuba. He grew up in a family of musicians and developed an interest in the piano at a young age.
He settled in the Netherlands in 1997, from where he traveled around the world with his music and entered into international collaborations with Roy Hargrove, Marcus Miller, Rusell Malone and Chucho Valdés, among others. In the Netherlands, too, Valle immediately connected with the best of the Dutch scene, such as Eric Vloeimans, Jesse van Ruller, Reinier Baas, Benjamin Herman, Martin Fondse, Tania Cross Lavinia Meijer and Ruth Jacott. He has delighted more than 200,000 visitors with his live music. He sold out the Concertgebouw during the Robeco Summer Series, played several times at the North Sea Jazz Festival and was even considered the surprise of the festival by critics in the first year.
In 2019, Ramón received an honorary award for his work as a pianist and composer and was named "one of the best Latin jazz pianists in the world".
Ramón Valle has been an official Steinway Artist since January 2020.