Cuba News: 'music by Amadeo Roldan will be also performed by the Cuban National Ballet' May 6

[Centenario Natalicio de Amadeo Roldán (Centennial of Birth of Amadeo Roldán) Cuba Stamp 2000]

Cuba News
“World Premiere by Cuban National Ballet Expected for Friday

HAVANA, Cuba, May 4 (acn) The choreography 'Cuba inside a piano' by Eduardo Blanco will be premiered worldwide on Friday, May 6, by the Cuban National Ballet at the Grand Theater of Havana as part of La Huella de España Festival. The ballet that lasts about 10 minutes is interpreted by emerging figures of the Cuban ballet company and with music by Ignacio Cervantes, Ernesto Lecuona, Harold Gramatges and Manuel Saumell.

“Blanco told ACN that 'Cuba inside a piano' is inspired on the Cuban piano repertoire of the 19th century. The young choreographer said throughout the performance, the public will be able to enjoy great moments of the romanticism from that period. Blanco said he was motivated by the richness of Cuban music and that the choreography mixes technique and neoclassicism.”

“The Cuban National Ballet, directed by Alicia Alonso, will dedicate the performance to important Cuban singers and composers.” “'Rhythmic' by Ivan Tenorio and music by Amadeo Roldan will be also performed by the Cuban National Ballet.” [Amadeo Roldán was an Afro-Cuban composer, violinist, conductor and professor who is profiled at AfriClassical.com. He was actually born in Paris to Cuban parents, on July 12, 1900. Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, Professor of Music at Lawrence University Conservatory, has generously made his research entry on Amadeo Roldán available to this website. Prof. De Lerma points out that Roldán's full name was Amadeo Roldán y Gardes.]

Amadeo Roldán's 'Ritmica No. V & No. VI' Performed by Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra

[Centenario Natalicio de Amadeo Roldan (Centennial of Birth of Amadeo Roldan); Cuba Stamp 2000]

The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) recently performed two works of the Afro-Cuban composer Amadeo Roldán (1900-1939), who is profiled at AfriClassical.com, during a percussion festival at Armstrong Park: 

Posted by Chris Waddington, Staff Writer,
The Times-Picayune April 11, 2009 12:00PM
“New Orleanians expect great drumming when they drop in at clubs or follow a second-line -- so why should it be any different with our resident orchestra? This past weekend, the LPO provided the triumphant centerpiece for a percussion festival in Armstrong Park, delivering a program of rarely heard 20th-century works, most of them by Latin Americans.

In percussion-only compositions, such as Carlos Chavez's "Toccata" and "Ritmica No. 5 and No. 6" by Amadeo Roldán, the LPO fielded up to a dozen musicians in batteries that included glockenspiel, snare drum, chimes, marimba, timpani, gong and scores of other struck instruments -- including an actual donkey's jawbone. The result was music of remarkable subtlety. Conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto drew out the melodic lines and rich colors in these pieces while keeping a tight grip on dynamics.

The Allmusic Blog: Brouwer & Roldán Among Cubans Who 'have made lasting contributions'

[Leo Brouwer & Amadeo Roldán] 
Blog.AllMusic.com

Cubanisimo! Happy 70^th Birthday Leo Brouwer

March 27th, 2009 | 8:15 am est | Uncle Dave Lewis

“Multi-talented Cuban composer, guitarist and conductor Leo Brouwer turned 70 on March 1; Brouwer is perhaps the most renowned of living Cuban composers, and this inspired us to take a look back at some of the Cuban composers throughout history who have made lasting contributions to the world of concert music. Leo Brouwer began to compose in 1955 at age 16, and even in those early years produced works of high quality such as his Danza Caracteristica (1957), regarded today as a classical guitar standard.” “From 1976 he entered into his mature vein, which Brouwer calls 'New Simplicity;' it encompasses input from popular and classical music, Afro-Cuban music and the avant-garde. A hand injury interrupted Brouwer’s career as guitar soloist, and while he has recovered, Brouwer has moved into conducting.”

Amadeo Roldán (1900-1939) was the father of Cuban modernism; when his ballet La Rebambaramba (1928) was conducted by Ernest Ansermet in Paris, Roldán became the first Cuban composer of serious music to be heard in the concert halls of Europe. Roldán was greatly interested in percussion, and his Ritmicás Nos. 5 and 6 (1930) appear to be the first Western musical works for predominantly non-pitched percussion, and without piano; Roldán is also credited with adding the claves and guiro to the concert percussionist’s arsenal of instruments. Roldán was from 1927 conductor and later music director of the Havana Philharmonic and taught composition at the Havana Municipal Conservatory; after the revolution, it was renamed the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in his honor. Amadeo Roldán died of cancer at the age of 38.” [Amadeo Roldán and Leo Brouwer are profiled at AfriClassical.com]