VSU Brings Legendary Latin Grammy Award-Winning Jazz Flutist to Campus

VALDOSTA — Latin Grammy Award winner Néstor Torres discusses his life, his culture, and his music at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27, in Valdosta State University’s Odum Library Auditorium.

Two days later the legendary jazz flutist performs live in concert with VSU’s Jazz Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 29, in Whitehead Auditorium, located on the first floor of the university’s Fine Arts Building.

Both events are presented free of charge and open to the public.

Born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, in 1957, Torres began taking flute lessons at age 12. Formal studies followed at the Escuela Libre de Música, then at Puerto Rico’s Inter-American University. He and his family moved to New York City when he was 18, and he went on to pursue classical flute studies at Mannes School of Music, jazz at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and classical and jazz at New England Conservatory of Music, also in Boston.

Torres’s rhythmic and mellifluous sound has earned him one Latin Grammy Award in the pop instrumental category, four Latin Grammy Award nominations, and one Grammy Award nomination. He has collaborated with a number of artists, including Gloria Estefan, Kenny Loggins, Dave Mathews, Herbie Hancock, Tito Puente, Michael Camilo, Paquito D’Rivera, and Arturo Sandoval, and he has performed with the Cleveland, Singapore, and New World symphony orchestras, among many others.

Torres’s visit is part of VSU’s Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month and is sponsored by VSU’s Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Department of Music, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Honors College, and Center for International Programs.