TEN QUESTIONS

With Sigal Board Member and Favorite Musician, Iliana Rose

Born in Miami and raised by Cuban parents and grandparents, Iliana Rose is steeped in Cuban rhythms and culture. Being a genuine prodigy she started playing music at the age of four. After years of classical and jazz training, she graduated from the prestigious University of Miami as well as the National Piano Guild with performance degrees.

She moved to Los Angeles and formed her band, “The Iliana Rose Cuban Jazz Band” and worked with some of the finest musicians in the industry. She was the musical director for several projects spanning multiple genres and for four years was the pianist and musical director on the national T.V. show Noches Con Platanito.

As an international touring and recording artist, she composes music for films and arranges songs for bands of all sizes and genres and travels the country as a guest clinician and student leadership specialist.

(1) What was the first song you remember learning how to play?
Beethoven’s Fur Elise

(2) Did you have a favorite artist growing up?
Oh yes! Bette Midler and Celia Cuz

(3) If you could jump into a time machine for one concert, who would you see and when?
Keith Jarrett – The Koln Concert (1975)

(4) Besides talent, what is the most important quality for a musician to possess?
Discipline

(5) What is your favorite part about playing at Sigal Music Museum?
The amazing audience!

(6) If you could learn to play any other instrument, what would it be?
Electric Bass – I was probably a bass player in another life.

(7) What’s the most important accessory for a musician to have onstage?
An elevated consciousness.

(8) What is the last thing you listened to?
Mambo Influenciado – Chucho Valdez and Paquito D’Rivera

(9) What type of instrument would you most like to see added to the museum?
I’d love to see more hand drums.

(10) We have to ask… You’re stuck on a deserted island… what’s the record?
Sorry, gotta have two. Wagner’s Tannhauser Overture and Beethoven’s 7th.

Want to hear more?
Listen to a full concert by the Iliana Rose Cuban Jazz Band here.