The website of the Afro-Cuban composer and conductor Tania Justina León (b. 1943) is http://www.tanialeon.com/;
she is also profiled at AfriClassical.com.
For the first time since she left for the United States nearly 50 years ago, the composer and conductor Tania León
will perform in her native Cuba later this month, conducting the
National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba in a program featuring one of her
own works.
“I
arrived here as a pianist, and I am going back as a composer and
conductor, “ Ms. León, 73, said in a telephone interview. She lamented
that her mother, who died two years ago, would not be there to see her
performance at the National Theater in Havana on Nov. 13.
Ms. León, who left Cuba in 1967 to pursue music, has played an active role in shaping American musical life
since then, especially as a composer.
***
Ms.
León, who grew up hearing the National Symphony Orchestra, will conduct
it in one of her pieces, “Indígena,” which is influenced by Cuban
music, and in works by Alberto Ginastera.
***
Going
back to conduct her music in her native land is, she said,
“spectacular” — and moving. “Emotionally it’s something that I’m
starting to work with,” she said. “ I have to do my best.”
Comment by email:
Thanks Bill. Hope all is well with you. Best, Alvin [Alvin Singleton]
Comment by email:
Thanks Bill. Hope all is well with you. Best, Alvin [Alvin Singleton]
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