Canada Cuba Summer Jazz Academy July 1st - 8th, 2025
The Canada Cuba Summer Jazz Academy (CCSJA) is an exciting new music education program that has been designed for Canadian high school music students.
Participants will travel to Varadero, Cuba and discover the important ties between Afro-Cuban music, culture and history and jazz! Over the course of the week, students will workshop classic Cuban repertoire, discover the rhythms of the Mambo, Rumba and Son Cubano under the direction of one of Cuba’s foremost music educators Daya Aceituno Rodriguez.
Students will attend masterclasses on Afro-Cuban drumming & dance, salsa dancing, work in rehearsal with Cuban musicians and attend performances by local musicians. Each day students will participate in nearly daily excursions to historic and culturally relevant sites on the island while also having plenty of time to enjoy the beach, pool and resort. The Canada Cuba Summer Jazz Academy will be hosted at the Hotel ROC Arenas Doradas in Varadero, Cuba.
Trip Information
Pricing - $2,395.00 for the week of July 1 to 8, 2025
Program Includes: Round trip airfare from Toronto to Cuba, 7 nights hotel accommodation based on double occupancy in air-conditioned rooms with private bath, breakfast, lunch and dinner daily (all-inclusive hotel), coordination and entrance/participation fees for classes/workshops/ performances/tours, translators/guides, local facilitators, ground transportation via modern air-conditioned bus as per itinerary, Cuban visa, and all Cuban and Canadian taxes. Not Included: 1 lunch outside of the hotel, optional activities, personal expenses and tips.
Please Note: Hotels, restaurant and recreational facilities are quite expensive by local standards. You may choose to invite Cuban students and teachers to participate in social activities with your group. This is always warmly received, however, you as host, are expected to assume the cost of the invitation as it is beyond the means of most Cubans. We recommend you check with your guide for suggestions before extending any invitations to activities not included in the itinerary. Depending on local conditions the order of activities may not be as indicated, we reserve the right to adjust the itinerary if required for the safe and proper management of the tour.
Excursions & Opportunities
- Students will participate in nearly daily excursions to historic and culturally relevant sites on the island while also having plenty of time to enjoy the beach, pool and resort
- A full day will be dedicated to visiting Havana which is the capital of the island of Cuba.
- Workshops in Afro-Cuban Drumming and Dance will be taught by some of the best music educators on the island.
- Students will have the opportunity to showcase their talents at the end of the week
Artistic Directors
JULES ESTRIN
Jules has been teaching band for the Toronto District School Board for the past 25 years and maintains a busy schedule giving master classes, lectures and clinics on band and jazz band pedagogy. Recently he has presented at the Ontario Music Educators Conference, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Laurier University, Peel District School Board, Halton District School Board and has adjudicated at music festivals across Canada. Jules is currently serving as Musical Director for the Toronto Jazz Academy Orchestra and High RenditioJazz in Oakville, Ontario. In 2019 he was appointed Director of Jazz at Interprovincial Music Camp in Parry Sound, Ontario. His groups have performed with legendary jazz artists Randy Brecker, Bucky Pizzarelli, Lew Tabackin, Tom Scott, Wycliffe Gordon and Joey DeFrancesco. Jules is a graduate of McGill University and the University of Toronto.
DAYA ACEITUNO RODRÍGUEZ
Daya a native of Havana, Cuba, has been dedicated to music since an early age. As a euphonium player, she graduated from Havana’s prestigious Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in 2009 specializing in performance and graduated from Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) Cuba’s national university of arts in 2015. Daya performs on euphonium with the Provincial Band of Havana and has spent nine years as Director of Banda Boyeros, Cuba’s only band that dances as it performs. Her busy schedule also includes teaching band at the Alejandro García Caturla Conservatory and the National School of Arts, both in Havana. In 2019 and 2022 under Daya’s direction, Banda Boyeros won top prize at Cuba’s National Music awards in the concert band category. Daya is highly respected in the Cuban music scene and the Boyeros band has been seen numerous times on Cuban TV. Daya’s high energy approach to music is infectious!
Itinerary
Day 1
- Canada to Cuba
- On arrival in Cuba, we will be met by our hosts at the airport and transferred to our hotel for check-in
- Dinner at the hotel
- Welcome briefing with your hosts to review plans for the week
- Breakfast
- Morning classes/workshops at the hotel for the different sections/instruments
- Lunch at the hotel
- Orientation tour of Varadero
- Afternoon: Visit downtown Varadero, the local artisans market, and other tourist areas
- Late Afternoon: Informal Salsa dance classes at the hotel
- Dinner at the hotel
- Evening rehearsal for all sections together
Day 2
Day 3
- Breakfast
- Morning classes/workshops at the hotel for the different sections/instruments.
- Lunch at the hotel
- Afternoon: Enjoy the sun, white sand beach and swim in the Caribbean Sea
- Late Afternoon: Attend a presentation by an Afro-Cuban musical/dance group.
- Members of the group will endeavour to share Afro-Cuban song and dance with the students
- Dinner at the hotel
- Evening rehearsal for all sections together.
- Breakfast
- Morning classes/workshops at the hotel for the different sections/instruments.
- Lunch at the hotel
- Afternoon: Visit the Bellamar Caves - journey into the underworld takes the visitor through 300 meters of the cave system
- Dinner at the hotel
- Evening rehearsal for all sections together.
Day 4
Day 5
- Day Trip to Havana
- Breakfast
- Morning: Visit Old Town Havana - Spain's gateway to the conquest of Latin America
- Travel Coach Bus to harbour entrance visiting the Parque Historico del Morro (Park entrance fee included, Museum fee not included)
- Afternoon: Visit local community centre to attend a performance by the kids
- Return to Varadero
- Dinner at the hotel
- Attend evening show at the hotel
- Breakfast
- Morning classes/workshops at the hotel for the different sections/instruments
- Lunch at the hotel
- This afternoon we will take an orientation tour of Varadero
- We will visit downtown Varadero, the local artisans market, and other tourist areas
- Later in the afternoon we will receive informal Salsa dance classes at the hotel
- Dinner at the hotel
- Evening rehearsal for all sections together
Day 6
Day 7
- Breakfast
- Morning classes/workshops at the hotel for the different sections/instruments.
- Lunch at the hotel
- Afternoon: Free to enjoy the beach and pool
- Dinner at the hotel
- Evening: Students perform for Cuban and international guests at the hotel
- Cuba to Canada
- Breakfast
- Check out
- Time permitting other points of interest may be visited enroute to the airport before check-in for return flight