| Classique, Jazz |
Where Havana Meets Chopin: Roberto Fonseca and Vincent Ségal in Intimate Conversation
There is something unmistakable about the days that follow the year-end holidays, a suspended moment, gently detached from urgency, when time seems to soften and reflection comes naturally. It is a season of afterglow, when people linger in a sense of quiet fullness without quite naming it. This album feels like a natural extension of that fragile interval: a poetic prolongation, contemplative yet alive, perfectly attuned to the emotional climate of early January.
At the heart of the project are two internationally acclaimed musicians: French cellist Vincent Ségal, a familiar presence on projects associated with the ACT label and well beyond, and Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca. Both are deeply respected figures whose careers have consistently defied categorization. The title of the album says it all, communication, and from the first notes, that dialogue feels both effortless and profound. Classically trained, each artist brings his own cultural memory and musical language to the table, weaving them together into a collaboration that is as joyful as it is intellectually resonant.
Fonseca and Ségal share a rare artistic freedom born of long experience. Fonseca’s trajectory spans from his formative years with the Buena Vista Social Club™ to collaborations with Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, Fatoumata Diawara, Baba Sissoko, and Gilles Peterson. Ségal’s path is equally expansive, encompassing work with Cesária Évora, Ballaké Cissoko, Elvis Costello, Ibrahim Maalouf, Matthieu Chedid, and many others. In this duo setting, however, virtuosity gives way to intimacy. The result is not a showcase, but a conversation, subtle, refined, and deeply attentive.
Classical music lies at the core of this exchange. “I have a very strong influence from classical music, especially Bach and Chopin,” Fonseca explains. “The intention was to create a sound universe where passion takes precedence, and to share a sonority that might feel new to many listeners, an homage to the great composers of classical and universal music, but approached in an original way.” That originality is not forced. Instead, it emerges from trust, listening, and a shared musical grammar.
The collaboration itself was born almost by chance, after years of mutual familiarity. “We had known each other for a long time, but we had never really taken the time to connect,” Ségal recalls. “Roberto suggested playing his composition Rumbo a Tí, and we performed it with great pleasure. We share a common musical culture.” That moment became the seed for a project defined less by preparation than by presence.
Unclassifiable by design, the album fuses Cuban rhythmic imprints with shared, drifting dreams, images traveling back and forth between the inner landscapes of both artists. Its musical depth evokes the early twentieth century, a time when Spanish classical traditions and Cuban rhythms intertwined to give birth to forms such as the Danzón and the Danzonete. Yet the music never feels nostalgic. It retains a contemporary sensibility, grounded in the present moment and shaped by the lived experiences of two modern musicians.
Remarkably, the recording required no formal preparation. Fonseca and Ségal simply sat down and began to play. What emerged, as Fonseca describes it, were “several short films, each with its own story.” Each piece unfolds like a vignette, compact, evocative, and emotionally precise.
“Through atmosphere and melody, I’m simply trying to take each listener on a sonic journey,” Fonseca says. “To help them feel a deep sense of spirituality, tied to an intense desire to compose melodies that linger, in the mind and in the heart.” That aspiration is fully realized here, not through grand gestures, but through restraint and nuance.
What has long distinguished Fonseca is his ability to reinvent himself, to take risks while foregrounding the richness of his cultural heritage. Ségal mirrors that same impulse. Here, he sounds more European than ever, embracing a Chopin-like sensibility that anchors the album’s introspective tone.
Together, they create a work that resists easy labels: a project that could feel equally at home at a classical music festival or a jazz gathering.
In an era increasingly obsessed with categorization, this album offers a quiet but persuasive alternative. The intelligence of its approach transcends genre, geography, and expectation. It reminds us that the most enduring music often begins simply, with listening. For that reason alone, this collaboration stands as a strong contender for one of the most compelling and beautiful musical projects of 2026.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, January 4th 2026
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Musicians :
Roberso Foncesca – piano
Vincent Segal – violoncelle
Tracklisting:
- Rumbo a Tí (Roberto Fonseca)
- Soul Kiss (Vincent Segal & Vic Moan)
- Nuit Parisienne (Roberto Fonseca)
- Paciencia Es Lo Que Hay Que Tener (Roberto Fonseca)
- Un Homme Qui Dort (Vincent Segal)
- Day (Roberto Fonseca)
- Violoncelle Pointe Noire (Vincent Segal)
- Free (Roberto Fonseca & Vincent Segal)
- La Mar Quieta, Tú y Yo Pensando (Roberto Fonseca)
- Interlude Piano Silence Sound (Roberto Fonseca)
- Te Extraño (M.C.A) (Roberto Fonseca)
Tour Dates
Jan 30 – Jazz Plaza, Havana, Cuba
Feb 08 – Le Châtelet fait son jazz, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, France
Feb 11 – Novoměstská Radnice, Prague, CZ (TBA)
Feb 13 – Moods, Zurich, CH (TBA)
Mar 21 – Saline Royale d’Arc-et-Senans, France