Gilberto Santa Rosa to Honor Arranger Jose Madera With Concert at Centro de Bellas Artes

Gilberto Santa Rosa confirmed on Monday that he will bring, in full and exclusively, the repertoire of "Hablando musica: la musica de Jose Madera," his latest album, to the stage in a concert set for November 18 at 8:30 p.m. at the Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferre in Santurce ¹. The show will pair the Puerto Rican salsa singer with the Orquesta Filarmonica Arturo Somohano and will feature Jose Madera himself, the arranger and orchestrator being honored, as guest of honor ¹.

Madera is one of those names that rarely appear on marquees but that have held up much of Latin music's history from behind the music stand. Over more than six decades he has written arrangements for Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Machito, Johnny Pacheco, Willie Colon, Eddie Palmieri, Larry Harlow and Dizzy Gillespie, in addition to working with figures outside the tropical circuit such as Diana Ross and James Brown ¹. His signature appears on hundreds of recordings and numerous Grammy-winning productions, making him, as Santa Rosa's own project describes it, one of the essential names behind the evolution of the Latin sound ¹.

The album that sparked the concert, released on July 15, gathers more than a dozen Madera compositions performed by Santa Rosa with big-band style arrangements backed by philharmonic sonorities ¹. The repertoire spans different moments of that more-than-sixty-year body of work: mambos, cha-cha-chas and boleros with jazz touches ¹. "When we made this album, we did it to capture, in one production, the admiration and gratitude I feel for Madera; a master who deserves a place of privilege in the history of our music. Being able to now bring that music to the stage, with Jose present, gives the tribute another dimension. Tonight is for his music, so people remember it, celebrate it, and so the audience can experience it with us," Santa Rosa said about the project ¹.

By the numbers

• Date and time: November 18, 8:30 p.m. ¹
• Venue: Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferre, Ave. Ponce de Leon, Parada 22 1/2, Santurce, San Juan ²
• Orchestra on stage: Filarmonica Arturo Somohano ¹
• Repertoire: more than a dozen Jose Madera songs, exclusive to the "Hablando musica" album ¹
• Album release date: July 15, 2026 ¹
• Madera's career: more than 60 years as an arranger, collaborations with at least ten top-tier figures in Latin and American music ¹
• Ticket sales: through TicketCenter and the Centro de Bellas Artes box office ¹³
• Standard CBA added fees: a $6.00 per-ticket service charge plus 1% municipal tax and 10.5% state tax ²
• Box office phone: (787) 620-4444 ²

What this means for you

If you love hard salsa, Latin jazz, or simply the story behind the music that has filled your home for decades, this concert is a rare chance to see, on the same stage, both the performer and the architect of the arrangements that got several generations dancing. Jose Madera rarely receives public recognition outside a record's liner-note credits, and having him as guest of honor turns the night into a living document of how classic salsa's sound was actually built. For fans of Puerto Rican and wider Caribbean music, it is also a sign that the genre keeps producing archival and rescue projects, not just new hits.

How to do it / Checklist

1. Mark the date: Monday, November 18, with the show starting at 8:30 p.m.; arrive early, since the Santurce area in front of the Centro de Bellas Artes gets congested before big events ¹².
2. Buy tickets online through TicketCenter (tcpr.com) or directly at the Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferre box office ¹³.
3. If you prefer buying in person or are looking for a discount (student, senior, veteran), do it at the physical box office with a valid photo ID, since discounts typically do not apply to online purchases ².
4. Factor in added fees when you pay: every ticket includes a $6.00 service charge, plus 1% municipal tax and 10.5% state tax on the admission price ².
5. If you want to get into it before the show, look up "Hablando musica: la musica de Jose Madera," available since July 15, to get familiar with the exclusive repertoire that will be played that night ¹.
6. Call (787) 620-4444 if you have questions about seating, accessibility, or parking at the Centro de Bellas Artes ².

What's next

The November 18 concert is shaping up to be one of the most talked-about tropical-music events of the year's end in Santurce, at a Centro de Bellas Artes that through October and November keeps a packed calendar of classical concerts, ballet and musical theater ³. If the show sells out in advance, as has happened with previous Santa Rosa performances in the same hall, a second date or a tour to other venues on the island in the following months would not be a surprise. For now, the official booking is a single night, conceived as a closed, one-time tribute to the work of Jose Madera.