New Jersey trumpeter/composer/arranger David Cedeño and his orchestra will wrap up the 2022 Berks Arts Bandshell Concert Series Friday at 7 p.m. in City Park.

The 12-piece orchestra will perform a mix of Latin music (salsa, merengue, Latin jazz and more) and Latin-style arrangements of traditional pop classics like Chris De Burgh’s “The Lady in Red” and “I Will Be There by Michael Jackson. ”

Cedeño and his band have released 16 CDs, including “From Jersey with Love”, “Back from Japan”, and “A New Return”. They toured the Northeastern United States and Japan, and Cedeño appeared as a trumpeter in the Marc Anthony/Jennifer Lopez film “El Cantante” (2006) as part of the “Fania All Stars” stage. “.

Growing up in Newark, NJ, Cedeño was able to hear live music up close from a young age.

“All my uncles and my mother played guitar,” he said. “They would come home with their guitars, and my mother would sing and my aunt would do background music too, strumming on a guiro made from a vase.”

His two older brothers learned the guitar, then, at age 6, he learned bass and guitar. Soon he was playing bass in his brothers’ band – Rafi and His Latin Combo – and at 14, after they left, he started his own band and never looked back.

“Just three months after we started, we released a single (45 rpm) with Allegro Records, and had a hit,” he said.

By then he had added the trumpet to his repertoire through his high school music program. Later, in his thirties, he studied briefly, mainly to solve a shoulder problem, with the famous trumpet teacher Vincent Penzarella, who played with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Cedeño’s busy concert schedule was interrupted in March 2020 by cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but he managed to continue his career playing for private outdoor parties hosted by wealthy northern residents. New York State and Long Island.

“They were having parties in their huge backyard, with about 20 people, and they were dancing to our music,” Cedeño said. “One of them hired someone to put 2 feet of sand on 3 or 4 acres to make a beach. Another had guests like Martha Stewart and Bon Jovi. We did about 10. It was enough to keep us going.”

Although he said many clubs in New York have not yet regained capacity due to continued COVID threats, he and the band were performing at more outdoor concerts.

“This year and last year, the desire for live music was so feverish, that even municipalities that had never done it before are doing these concerts,” he said. “Even libraries do it. So there’s a lot going on.

The Bandshell concert will be preceded by a presentation by a local music organization beginning at 6 p.m.

Families are encouraged to bring blankets, lawn chairs and, of course, their dancing shoes to City Park to enjoy great music in a natural setting.

Any weather-related schedule changes are posted on Facebook and announced on local radio stations. Alcohol and smoking are not permitted in the municipal park and dogs must be kept on a leash.

For more information on Bandshell concerts, visit www.berksarts.org.