José Antonio Zayas Cabán

Recent winner of the New Music USA Project Grant, and now McKnight Fellow, has presented performances and taught master classes throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and North America.

A native Puerto Rican (born and raised in Mayagüez PR) and musician activist, Zayas Cabán now resides in Minneapolis MN and is building an artistic career focused on developing projects, albums, and collaborations that address, respond to, and raise awareness about current events and social issues.

Presently, Zayas Cabán is developing a project titled Puerto Rico se Re-Inventa to schedule annual residencies in Puerto Rico and bring free music concerts to the communities of Puerto Rico. By documenting these visits to the island, he aims to raise consciousness and awareness about Puerto Rico in the mainland United States.

Zayas Cabán is the co-founder of the Chamber Music Trio {Trés}, featured on this album, which was started as a collaborative project with the purpose of creating transcriptions and commissioning new works for a two saxophone and piano ensemble to perform. The trio has since performed chamber music by a wide range of composers in Central America, the Caribbean, and throughout the United States. In the wake of Hurricanes Irma and María, {Trés} finished a national tour (2018) titled A Tribute to Puerto Rico to help raise funds and awareness about Puerto Rico and the island’s efforts to recover from the hurricanes. In November 2019, the trio completed its first residency in Puerto Rico.