{"id":253755,"date":"2026-05-01T10:56:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T10:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/253755\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T10:56:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T10:56:04","slug":"soulful-and-virtuosic-cuatrista-fabiola-mendez-comes-to-orlando-for-two-nights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/253755\/","title":{"rendered":"Soulful and virtuosic cuatrista Fabiola M\u00e9ndez comes to Orlando for two nights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Fabiola Mndez Credit: Courtesy<\/p>\n

As the nearest state and biggest home to its diaspora, we here in Florida know there\u2019s more to the music of Puerto Rico than just Bad Bunny. Still, we don\u2019t know as much as we should. This swing-through by the preeminent Fabiola M\u00e9ndez will make us more appropriately literate with performances that are musical expositions of Puerto Rico\u2019s heritage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Your six-string guitar is cute and all, but the cuatro is a 10-string beauty that\u2019s the national instrument of Puerto Rico \u2014 and it\u2019s something of which M\u00e9ndez is both a champion and a master. With it, the Caguas native has been a lifelong torchbearer of Boricua culture all the way up into the ivory tower of music at Berklee, where she was the first graduate to play the cuatro as her principal instrument. Across four shows in two nights, expect M\u00e9ndez to be a bridge of Latin folk and jazz that\u2019s soulful, virtuosic and uniquely Puerto Rican. <\/p>\n

6 p.m.\u00a0 & 9 p.m. Saturday, May 2, and 6 p.m. & 8 p.m. Sunday, May 3, Judson\u2019s Live, drphillipscenter.org<\/a>, $29-$47.<\/p>\n

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