Organised by the Consulate General of Italy in Bahía Blanca and the city’s Cultural Institute, the “Jazz Week” was inaugurated at the L. Caronti Auditorium with the concert Connections, performed by the young yet already acclaimed Italian jazz vibraphonist Giovanni Perin. The concert was sold out for the occasion.
Accompanied by two outstanding Argentine musicians – drummer Daniel Lopez and double bassist Lisandro Diez – Perin’s Italian jazz offered a vibrant musical project born of the encounter between Italian and Argentine musical traditions. The performance blended original compositions with classics from both the American and Italian repertoires, all reinterpreted through the lens of this international collaboration.
With a distinguished career on the global jazz scene and performances at major festivals worldwide, Perin brings profound experience and a fresh artistic voice, exploring a rich musical landscape where jazz, Latin rhythms, and fusion sounds intertwine.
The concert was preceded by a masterclass for students of the local Conservatory – a gesture that was particularly appreciated given that the Conservatory was destroyed in the devastating flood that struck Bahía Blanca on 7 March. Offering spaces for learning and community gathering is essential, placing Italian culture – through the work of the Consulate General – at the heart of the recovery of a city with deep-rooted ties to Italy.
On 30 June, Perin held an additional masterclass for students at the Neuquén School of Music, followed by a concert in the evocative hall of the Hiroki Peninsula, located at the confluence of the two rivers that form the Rio Negro – the namesake of one of Argentina’s main provinces – symbolising the encounter and union of two cultures through Italian music.
