On his last performance in Australia, Cuban-born pianist Roberto Fonseca showcased his prowess on the piano. But last night at Melbourne’s Recital Centre, while his dashing piano skill was still evident, the focus was on Fonseca the bandleader and project producer. What he presented was an imaginative and lavish visual and musical show based on his most recent album, La Gran Diversión.

To perform the music, he had assembled the most impressive ensemble of Cuban musicians to take this music around the world, and they were musicians who knew how to deliver. The music, with its infectious rhythms, was enveloping, immediately drawing the audience into an immersive experience in which they were encouraged to clap along and join in the musicians’ chorus singing and, at the end, to get up and dance to a beguiling mambo.

Roberto Fonseca. Portrait supplied

The album La Gran Diversion is a homage to the golden era of Cuban music. The performance opened with a slide show projecting photographs on a screen above the stage of ballroom orchestras, grand dance halls and hotels, and the elegant...