René Lorente

René Lorente (born 27 November 1948 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban-American musician and composer, recognized for having been a member of the Orquesta Aragón, for his solo career and for his collaboration with musicians such as Senén Suárez, Enrique Jorrín, Meme Solís, Cachao López, Chucho Valdés and Albita Rodríguez, among others.

During his career he has performed in genres like son cubano, chachachá, danzón, guaracha and instrumental music, and has excelled in the execution of instruments such as the five key wooden flute, the tercerola in Eb and the Böehm flute. and at the age of fourteen he was already performing live with orchestras in the city. Between 1964 and 1968 he studied at the Alejandro García Caturla Conservatory, where he learned to play the Böehm flute. In 1969 he continued his musical training at the Escuela de Superación Profesional under the tutelage of maestro Alfredo Portela López. In total, Lorente participated in the recording of five albums with the orchestra: Baila con La Aragón, Recordando a Rafael Lay, Orquesta Aragón con el Maestro Labba Soseh and the Álbum de Oro 50 Aniversario in its volumes one and two.

Solo career and other projects In August 1990 he settled in the United States, where he formed his own charanga orchestra. Two years later he recorded the album René Lorente y su charanga cubana, and in 1995 he decided to start a career as a solo instrumentalist exploring other genres like Latin jazz, pop, rock and African rhythms. During that period he also collaborated as a guest artist with various charangas, and at the end of the 1990s he joined the group Café Nostalgia in the city of Miami, with which he recorded the albums Live (1997) and Te di la vida entera (1999). Throughout his career, Lorente has recorded or performed with artists and groups like Hansel Martínez, Fred Paul, Albita Rodríguez, Meme Solís, Juanito Márquez, Juan Pablo Torres, Cachao López, Haitiando, Roberto Torres, Chucho Valdés, Alfredo Armenteros, César Pedroso, Grupo Canela and Su Majestad el Danzón, and has appeared on television programs on networks such as Telemundo, América TeVe, Univision and MegaTV.