Harold Gramatges was a Cuban composer, pianist, and teacher.
The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba is the main institution dedicated to the performance of classical music in Cuba
The Amadeo Roldán Theatre is a theatre in Havana, Cuba built in 1929. The theatre was destroyed in 1977 by a pyromaniac; it was re-opened in 1999 as the head office of the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba which performs seasonal every Sunday at 11:00PM.
Yasek Manzano Silva is a Cuban trumpet player and composer in Marianao. He has performed with Celia Cruz, Los Van Van, Irakere, Bobby Carcassés and the British bands Manic Street Preachers and Simply Red.
Flores Chaviano is a Cuban composer, guitarist, professor and orchestral conductor that has achieved great international recognition.
Julio Roloff is a Cuban composer that has collaborated with the Laboratorio Nacional de Música Electroacústica (LNME) founded by composer Juan Blanco, where he created numerous electroacoustic pieces.
Efraín Amador Piñero is a Cuban guitarist, lutist, composer and professor. He has conducted extensive investigations about the “Cuban lute” and “tres” performance styles, and has created several methods of study and numerous compositions for those instruments.
The guitar was the first instrument that was heard in Cuba after the conch horns, flutes and drums that the original aborigines used to play; as it was documented by Spanish chroniclers such as Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Through the centuries, the guitar has continued to be one of the most important and cherished instruments in Cuba, both in the practice of popular music as well as in the classical music tradition. Founded by renowned professors such as Clara Romero, Isaac Nicola, Clara (Cuqui) Nicola, Carlos Molina, and Marta Cuervo Riverón, the Cuban guitar school has acquired an excellent international reputation since the 20th century, represented by important instrumentalists and composers such as Leo Brouwer, Carlos Molina, José Rey de la Torre, Juan Antonio Mercadal and Joaquín Clerch, among many others.
After its arrival in Cuba at the end of the 18th century, the pianoforte rapidly became one of the favorite instruments among the Cuban population. Along with the humble guitar, the piano accompanied the popular Cuban guarachas and contradanzas at salons and ballrooms in Havana and all over the country.
Carlos Molina is a Cuban guitarist and professor.
Diana López Moyal is a Cuban flutist, musician, performer, and teacher based in Miami. Born in Havana, Cuba, she graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Flute from the Higher Institute of Art in 1986 and was appointed as a professor at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory.
Miguel Bonachea is a Cuban guitarist and professor.
César Pérez Sentenat (1896-1973) was a Cuban pianist and composer. He has been recognized as an important professor of classical piano in Cuba.
Rolando Valdés-Blain was a Cuban classical guitarist, born in Havana, and immigrated to New York as a child. In the 1930s he and his brother Alberto had a weekly music show on WNYC radio. He served in Burma from 1942 to 1946 during World War II and afterwards studied at the Madrid Royal Conservatory, where he was awarded the Grand Prize for concert guitar playing by Joaquín Rodrigo. He toured worldwide under the management of impresario Sol Hurok and his United States tours as guitar soloist included Yale University, Carnegie Recital Hall, and the Spanish Ballet. He was one of the pioneering classical guitarists to perform as soloist together with a symphony orchestra, in 1955 with the Radio City Music Hall Symphony Orchestra and the Joffrey Ballet at the New York City Center. He appeared in Tennessee Williams's Broadway play Camino Real and he also composed the music for the play Bullfight. He was vice-president and adviser of Manuel Velazquez guitars and founder of the Guitar Department at the Manhattan School of Music. In 1968 he was invited to give a command performance at the White House. The New York Times called his performance "a musical gem…reflecting every baroque nuance of the music".
The bowed string instruments have been always present in Cuba since its discovery, first as the viol or bowed vihuela and at a later time as the Italian violin. As other instruments and the culture in general, also the violin enjoyed in Cuba a period of great relevance during the 19th century. The violin was part of the instrumental ensembles that accompanied the Contradance and the Dance, the first Cuban musical genres, as well as other subsequent genres as the Danzón and the Cha cha cha. The violin also intoned some of the most beautiful melodies composed in Cuba, such as "La Bella Cubana" by José White. At all times, the Cuban violinists have been prominent representatives of the Cuban music throughout the entire world.
Alejandro González González is a Cuban musician, guitarist and professor with notable work in the Dominican Republic.
The Barcelona Guitar Orchestra is a 25 chair orchestra of classical guitarists based in Barcelona, Spain. The repertoire of the orchestra ranges from Baroque to contemporary compositions with a heavy emphasis on Spanish music. In the more than thirty years since its founding, the orchestra has toured extensively throughout the world. It is considered an examplar of groups of its type.
Sergio Fernández Barroso is a Cuban composer, performer and professor.
Alfredo Diez Nieto was a Cuban composer, conductor, and professor. He taught composition at Instituto Musical Kohly, the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, the National Art School, and the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. He founded and conducted the Orquesta Popular de Conciertos. Diez Nieto composed orchestral works including three symphonies and chamber music for various instruments, using and transforming elements from Cuban folk music.
Carlos Malcolm is a Cuban composer and pianist.
