Current Performing Arts Global Exchange Grantees

2026-2027 Tours

Antonio Lizana (Spain)

Antonio is posed against a teal green background and holds a saxophone.

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Image: Antonio Lizana. Credit: Ana Solinis.

From Andalusia to New York and beyond, Antonio Lizana is one of the most celebrated representatives of new Flamenco Jazz to come out of southern Spain. As a jazz saxophonist, flamenco singer and composer, Lizana’s live shows are described as a “breathtaking journey from flamenco roots to contemporary jazz”, spun together with his soulful lyrics carrying messages of optimism and sincerity to his audiences. His quintet includes a flamenco dancer, pianist, percussionist, and bassist. Their newest album, Vishuddha, entwines the Moorish, note-bending improvisations of flamenco singing with jazz improvisation to create an exciting new sound.

Antonio Lizana will be presented by:

Birdie by Agrupación Señor Serrano (Spain)

A man kneels with a video recorder on a green carpet filming small plastic figures heading into a golf course hole.

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Image: Birdie. Credit: Pasqual Gorriz.

Birdie is a 65-minute multimedia performance with live video, objects, Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ revisited, scale models, 2000 mini animals, wars, smugglers, a massive migration and three performers handling this messy world with wit, criticism, and commitment with humankind.

Birdie will be presented by:

Danzas Solemnes by Cristina Cazorla Company (Spain)

A dancer leaps through the air arms above her head and ruffled skirts flaring.

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Image: Danzas Solemnes by Cristina Cazorla Company. Credit: Vallinas 2025.

Cristina Cazorla returns to the roots of Spanish dance to create ‘Danzas Solemnes’ (‘Solemn Dances’), a show dedicated to the beauty, aesthetics, technique, and essence of the Escuela Bolera and Spanish Dance styles. 

The show recreates different landscapes inspired by the most classical Spanish tradition, typical of places such as Aranjuez, and more racially typical of Andalusia, with solemnity and elegance. The production is a 75-minute ballet in three acts in which Spanish dance, with its aesthetic versatility, takes center stage, enhanced by majestic costumes and magical lighting design.

Danzas Solemnes will be presented by:

Lucibela (Portugal)

Lucibela peers out from between two gold stage curtains.

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Image: Lucibela. Credit: Alex Tome.

A concert with Lucibela is a journey through the heart of Cape Verde. With her warm, soulful voice, she brings to life the rhythms of morna and coladera—songs of love, longing, and joy—inviting audiences to feel the true spirit of the islands. 

Born 1986 on the island of São Nicolau and singing ever since, Lucibela’s assured, warm voice is formed from years of assimilation of the sounds of morna and coladera. She began performing with a band while at the high school, later going on to sing in hotels in Boa Vista, entertaining tourists, performing songs made famous by the great singers of Cabo Verde such as Cesária Évora, Titina, or Bana; songs that she knew by heart and made her own. In 2012, she moved to Praia, soon attracting attention in the city’s music venues, finally making a breakthrough at the 2017 Atlantic Music Expo, leading to invitations to Belgium and Lisbon, where she recorded her debut album with producer Toy Vieira, Cesária Évora’s musical director, furthering her aim of carrying on the great diva’s legacy. Now based in Lisbon, Lucibela maintains a strong relationship with her home country of Cabo Verde. 

Lucibela will be presented by:

Pedro Pastor y Los Locos Descalzos (Spain)

Pedro Pastor is posed seated against a red background.

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Image: Pedro Pastor y Los Locos Descalzos. Credit: Courtesy of the Artist.

At just 30 years old, and with four albums under his belt, Pedro Pastor represents and leads a new generation of singer-songwriters in Spain. Despite his young age, he has already spent over 20 years on the stage, with 700 concerts in more than 17 countries. His music straddles between Latin America and Spain, with lyrics that are a hymn to change and rebellion, to love and learning, to fusion and blending as the primary source of musical and human development. His style combines African music, cumbia, flamenco, funk, and Latin American folklore without losing the power and essence of the singer-songwriter and its message.

Pedro Pastor y Los Locos Descalzos will be presented by: