Cuba Celebrates Adolfo Guzman’s 101 Birthday

The Adolfo Guzman Music Center prepares a broad program of activities to celebrate the 101^st birthday anniversary on May 13^th of the prolific composer, arranger, pianist and orchestra conductor

To mark the occasion, two concerts will be streamed on social network, featuring emblematic tunes from the vast repertoire of Adolfo Guzman, performed by young singers. There will be two other concerts, one dedicated to Cuban contradanza –known outside Cuba as the habanera—and another one entitled ‘Viva Cuba, Viva Mexico’.

The songs composed by Adolfo Guzman were popularized by renowned Cuban singers, notably Elena Burke, Beatriz Marquez, Esther Borja and D’Aida quartet.

Guzmán is considered one of Cuba’s main instrumental filin composers and a key innovator of the canción, a genre he cultivated between 1938 and 1971. He also cultivated classical music, as exemplified by his Concerto for piano and orchestra.

A clear jazz influence is present also in his compositions and arrangements.

Adolfo Guzmán died on July 30, 1976, in Havana, at the age of 56. Two years later, in the summer of 1978, the Radio and Television Institute (ICRT) organized the first Adolfo Guzmán Cuban Music Contest in his honor.