2026 FIU Music Festival: Liszt & Jiménez: Piano, Song, and Virtuosity

Celebrate Franz Liszt’s birthday with pianists Kemal Gekić and José López and guest soprano Sonya Baker in a festival concert spanning solo piano, chamber music and song.

The program pairs Liszt’s solo works with music by Afro-Cuban composer and virtuoso pianist José Manuel Jiménez (1852–1917). López presents Jiménez’s solo piano works and two chamber compositions, while Baker—who made her Carnegie Hall debut with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas—joins him for a selection of Lieder.

FIU Artist-in-Residence and longtime Miami International Piano Festival artist Kemal Gekić brings his celebrated command of Liszt to the composer’s solo piano works. His performances and recordings have earned international acclaim, including the Rosette Award from The Penguin Guide to Classical Recordings for his recording of the Rossini-Liszt transcriptions.

Presented in collaboration with the South Florida Chapter of the American Liszt Society, the concert places a towering figure of the Romantic era alongside a compelling Afro-Cuban voice deserving of wider recognition.