Guido López Gavilán
1944
Personal details
The Cuban composer and conductor Guido López-Gavilán
graduated in 1966 from the choral conducting program
at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory in Havana and in
1973 from the Orchestral Conducting program at the
Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. He has received
awards in the most important composition competitions
held in Cuba and as a conductor has achieved extraordinary
success and received recognition from international critics for outstanding performances in Latin America and Europe. He has also been invited as a guest speaker to many important festivals and musical events at various prestigious universities. In 2005 he was awarded the UNESCO Medal in Chile. His piece Conga, especially written for the Sixth World Symposium of Choral Music, Minneapolis, USA, was premiered at the Symposium’s opening concert. He has also made an outstanding contribution to the development of the Cuban Youth Orchestra Movement, is the President of the Havana Festival and Chairman of the Orchestral Conducting Department at the Instituto Superior de Arte. His style of composition incorporates rhythms from Cuban popular music, polytonality, unconventional sound resources and fi ne lyricism. His music ranges from humorous and joyful compositions to solemn and dramatic works.