José André Montaño

11-year-old José André Montaño is a jazz pianist and composer born in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He taught himself how to play the piano from a very young age. His playful and inspired compositions bridge jazz, rock, blues, bossa nova, Latin American folklore, and world music. He is a musician who flavours his tunes with Latin rhythms and jazz harmonies with amazing speed and accuracy.

Despite his very young age he has already delighted audiences at many prestigious festivals and concert halls across the Americas including the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC and the World Bank among others. He has also performed in Italy, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia.

The Dire Straits Experience

Over 20 years have passed since Dire Straits disbanded, leaving a catalogue of some of the finest compositions and musical performances that the heyday of rock ever produced. If anything, their reputation has only grown with time. Record sales of more than one hundred and twenty million albums continue to increase as new young fans discover the music and join the band’s massive worldwide following.

It was against the backdrop of this two-decade break – and an increasing demand to hear one of the most dramatic songbooks in rock history played live again – that members of Dire Straits, Alan Clark, Chris White and Phil Palmer formed The Straits for a charity show at The Royal Albert Hall in 2011. With the prolific Knopfler enjoying an incredibly successful solo career, Alan Clark called upon the singer songwriter, Terence Reis to front the band in his absence. By the time The Straits ended, three and a half years later, the band had played more than 150 shows in 25 countries around the world.

An invitation to play a series of shows in New Zealand and Australia has seen Chris White and Terence Reis collaborating again for The Dire Straits Experience. Joining them is a stellar band of some of the finest professional musicians the UK has to offer. Between them they have worked with an enviable list of rock royalty that includes, amongst others, Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Elton John, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, Van Morrison, Tom Jones and Sheryl Crow.