Casselberry is throwing open the gates at Lake Concord Park this Saturday for its free Latin Jazz and Art Festival, and this year's headliner is bringing something nobody in the audience will have heard before. Grammy-winning flautist Néstor Torres will share the stage with cuatro player Fabiola Méndez from 7:30 to 9 p.m., capping an evening of live music, dance, visual art, and food vendors that runs from 5 to 9 p.m. on September 12.
According to WFTV, Torres has released 19 albums and won a Grammy for his 2001 record “This Side of Paradise,” and he's collaborated over the years with Gloria Estefan, Herbie Hancock, Tito Puente, and Arturo Sandoval. What makes Saturday's set particularly notable is timing: Torres is set to give the first-ever live recitation of his new spoken-word and musical piece, “The Poet's Revolution,” per the City of Casselberry, just one day after the work's worldwide release. The project draws inspiration from historical figures including Benjamin Franklin and Gil Scott-Heron.
Fabiola Méndez brings her own milestone to the bill. The station reports that Méndez is an Emmy-nominated singer and composer whose music blends folk, jazz, and Afro-Caribbean influences rooted in Puerto Rican culture and identity. In 2018, per Berklee College of Music, she became the first student to graduate from the Berklee College of Music with the Puerto Rican cuatro — a traditional 10-string instrument — as her principal study instrument, having started playing the instrument at age six in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
Emmy Nod and Screen Credits
Méndez earned a Children's and Family Emmy nomination in 2023 in the Outstanding Interactive Media category for her work on the PBS Kids animated series “Alma's Way,” according to Berklee. She has also composed music for HBO Max's “Mecha Builders” and PBS Kids' “Work It Out Wombats!”
The evening's earlier acts lean into the festival's percussive roots. Kalindá, from the School of Bomba and Plena Tata Cepeda, opens the event with a performance rooted in traditional Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba, taking the stage from 5 to 6 p.m., the station notes. Dimas Sánchez and the Afro Latin Jazz Project follow from 6 to 7 p.m., before announcements run from 7:10 to 7:30 p.m. ahead of the headline set. Per the City of Casselberry, Sánchez is a Tampa-based master percussionist whose ensemble blends traditional Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena rhythms — genres built around percussive call-and-response dynamics — with jazz and funk.
Galleries Open Across Four City Sites
Galleries Open Across Four City Sites Art isn't confined to the main stage. Latin visual artists will display paintings, sculptures, and mixed-media works at Casselberry City Hall, the Art House, the Art Center, and the Sculpture House, with galleries open from 5 to 8 p.m., WFTV reports. The Sculpture House is among those festival gallery sites. The Art House is another festival gallery site.
Lake Concord Park itself is part of the draw. Lake Concord Park is the festival venue. Food and product vendors focused on Latin cuisine will be open throughout the event, and organizers are encouraging guests to bring chairs and blankets. Admission is free, and the festival takes place at 95 Triplet Lake Drive.
A Kickoff for Hispanic Heritage Month
A Kickoff for Hispanic Heritage Month The festival serves as Casselberry's official community kickoff for Hispanic Heritage Month. That framing carries extra weight locally: U.S. Census Bureau data cited by Census Dots shows Hispanic or Latino residents make up 28.0% of Casselberry's population, which stood at 28,794 at the 2020 census. The festival takes place in the Seminole County city of Casselberry.
Casselberry has built a reputation for booking heavyweight Latin jazz talent for this annual event. Do Orlando North notes that 10-time Grammy winner Arturo Sandoval headlined the festival in September 2024, following an earlier appearance in 2017. Hoodline covered that 2024 Sandoval headline show at the same Lake Concord Park venue.
