Roman Filiu O’Reilly

After graduating from the
Higher Institute of Art in Havana and working as a saxophone professor at the
National School of Music in the same city, Filiu joined to the well-known band
Irakere, lead by Chucho Valdes, from 1997 to 2006. In 1999, he participated in
the recording of the album Babalu Aye, which was nominated for a
Grammy Award. Filiu also played alto saxophone for Valdés’s album New
Conceptions, which won a 2004 Grammy Award. Filiu was David
Murray’s musical director for three of his albums,Now is the Time (2002), Waltz
Again (2005), and David Murray Plays Nat King Cole en
Español(2009). Also, Filiu has played and recorded with other important
musicians, such as Lazaro Ross, Compay Segundo, Omara Portuondo, Pablo Milanés,
Incognito, Doug Hammond, David Virelles, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Dafnis Prieto, and
Henry Threadgill, among others. In 2010, he recorded his album Musae with
musicians David Virelles, Reinier Elizarde, Marcus Gilmore, Dafnis Prieto and
Adam Rogers. In 2012, his album Musae was awarded Best
Jazz Record in the Cubadisco International Fair in Havana, Cuba. In 2013,
he received the Jazz Gallery Residency Commission and wrote his Suite
Quartería, which will be recorded this summer in New York.