Raquel Cepeda Music’s mission is to engage with and to celebrate the diverse cultural expressions of music through the language of Jazz by producing high-level musical events and recordings that highlight such diversity.
If anyone knows about following her “Passion,” it’s jazz singer Raquel Cepeda. A longtime geological engineer in the oil industry who one day decided to follow her inner compass and align herself with the gifts bestowed upon her by the universe. In 2015 she shed her corporate skin to consecrate herself fully in music. Originally from Venezuela, Cepeda grew up in a family of musicians, balancing music and science from early on. Even while pursuing her degree in engineering, she was recognized as a singer of distinction, performing regularly on campus and garnering first place at the prestigious Ucevista Voice Festival in 1995. In 2001, she participated in her first jazz recording project, Juegos de Playa, and in 2013 released her debut album as leader, I’m Confessin’. Her latest album, Passion, was released in October 2019.
Cepeda currently lives in Houston, TX, where she is an in-demand jazz vocalist, known especially for her multi-cultural, multi-linguistic approach, born of her love for languages and long exposure to Latin, Brazilian, and American cultures.
When Cepeda sings, she reaches her audiences not only by speaking their language, but above all through her eloquent manifestations of melody, style, and message.
Cepeda has played major venues in Houston, Caracas, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, and has shared stages with such topflight musicians as Ellis and Delfeayo Marsalis. She was a featured act at Houston’s first Latin Jazz festival in 2018, the Brazilian Food and Music festival in 2019, and the French Food and Wine festival of 2019, and has performed with the Kingwood Pops Orchestra.
Past Events at MATCH
- February 2024: Jazz on Valentine's Concert
- December 2023: Christmas Jazz Concert
- February 2023: Jazz on Valentine's Concert
- September 2022: Take 5: Jazz in Venezuelan Style
- February 2022: Jazz on Valentine's Concert 2022
- February 2020: Jazz on Valentine's Concert
- October 2019: Passion - Raquel Cepeda in Concert
- September 2018: Elemental