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Event Description
Venezuelan guitarist and composer Orlando Molina has emerged as a distinctive voice in contemporary jazz, crafting music that bridges Latin American traditions with modern jazz aesthetics. Based in Ireland for over a decade, he combines sophistication, narrative depth, and instrumental mastery.
As a bandleader, Molina’s repertoire moves between lyrical introspection and rhythmically complex ensemble interplay. His compositions invite improvisational dialogue while maintaining clear narrative arcs – a journey between “departure and arrival, longing and belonging” (Jazz Ireland). The quintet’s performances draw from Autorretrato en Tres Colores, where Jazzwise observed: “the moods [are] low key, the emphasis on drawing the spirit within to shape meaning and clarity in solo,” highlighting Molina’s restraint and depth.
The Orlando Molina Quintet offers audiences a refined and deeply human experience – jazz that is not merely cross-cultural but profoundly communicative, offering audiences an authentic journey marked by adaptation, cultural fusion, and emotional honesty. In the landscape of European jazz today, Molina’s voice is both rooted and forward-looking: rooted in Latin and jazz tradition, forward-looking in scope and thematic purpose. This is not merely cross-genre jazz- it is jazz as narrative, as cultural diplomacy, as emotional architecture.
Kildare Jazz Festival 2026 takes place from Friday 27-Sunday 29 March.
Kildare Jazz Festival is funded by The Arts Council and supported by RTÉ Supporting the Arts, Kildare County Council Arts Service and Riverbank Arts Centre.
Event tickets: from €15
Weekend ticket: €75
(does not include workshops or family events)
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Location of event
Venue Information - Riverbank Arts Centre
Riverbank Arts Centre is a multi-disciplinary venue including theatre and visual arts centre in Newbridge, County Kildare. Riverbank Arts Centre is lively, atmospheric and convenient, a high quality venue which caters for a range of interests and age groups. From theatre, music and comedy to children's events and cinema, Riverbank Arts Centre provides an intimate setting for a broad variety of shows.