Zahili Gonzalez Zamora

About Zahili

Zahili Gonzalez Zamora is a pianist, composer, bandleader, arranger, and educator. Born in Manzanillo, Cuba, she started playing piano at the age of six, and graduated from the National School of Music with a performance degree. She feels most defined by her Cuban heritage and her status as an immigrant.

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Her passion for music has taken her to Canada, to South East Asia and, now, to the United States—a land of immigrants. She is always moving forward, guided and driven by her music and the need to grow as an artist and a person, to share her music and her love of life with others.

She aspires to inspire; to be a messenger for a journey that is not only her own, but one that deeply resonates with others. She’s an artist who’s out of her comfort zone—her home— for the sake of her work. Her rich musical background, career experience and extraordinary improvisation skills render her a leader in the modern Latin jazz idiom and an influential, emulated musician.

In both performance and teaching, I always aspire to inspire. Teaching and performing require the same set of skills and personal traits: intense empathy, the drive to excel, the urge to make students or audience members curious, the ability to stay present for each moment as it comes. I insist on mastery of the material for my students and myself. Only then are you free to perform. If you’re holding back, protecting yourself, your work will suffer, as both teaching and performing require that you let yourself be wonderfully vulnerable. That’s why artists make good teachers: because we’re not afraid to do that. I want to challenge both student and audience. I am there to guide, to be on level ground so the same electric charge that exists between teacher and student can exist between performer and audience. Just as each audience is a wonderful surprise, so each student cannot be anticipated, but only discovered for who they are and where they are on their journey. In both practices, honesty is crucial—with yourself, your student, your audience. "What I want for students, first, is rhythmic independence. That ability comes from my background as a Cuban musician, and it’s something I love to teach. My heritage allows me to be a direct source for students who want to explore Afro-Cuban jazz. As an immigrant, I have different cultural influences: Cuban music, of course, but also gospel, blues, funk, American, and classical. The work of classical music gives you a solid technique, high personal standards, and a greater understanding of craft. You can’t have artistry until your technique is perfect. I also hope students finish the semester with a love of composition.