With a concert starring the Cuban pianist living in the United States, Nachito Herrera, the activities begin this Monday Cubadisco International Fair 2022.
The event, which had to postpone its opening due to the tragic explosion that occurred in the Saratoga hotel –which left more than 40 dead and close to a hundred injured–, will extend its program until June 5 and will be held in a hybrid format, as confirmed by its organizers at a press conference on Monday.
At the opening, scheduled for today at 8:30 PM in the Sala Avellaneda of the National Theater and that Herrera will dedicate to the victims of the Saratoga disaster, the pianist will be accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra and the National Choir of Cuba, conducted by teachers Enrique Pérez Mesa and Digna Guerra, respectively.
In addition, at the gala, which is called “Cuba Vive”, the Cuban-Canadian singer Adonis Puente and the Buena Fe duo will also perform, and the virtuoso American violinist Karen Briggs, with a relevant career in music, will perform for the first time on the island. genres such as jazz and country, and who joined the group of the Greek composer Yanni.
The concert program is made up of works by Cuban, American and Russian authors, and ranges from symphonic music classics to Cuban Nueva Trova, according to what was reported by the Cuban Institute of Music.
From this Tuesday and throughout the days of the 25th edition of Cubadisco, concerts and other face-to-face activities such as exchanges and presentations will take place on-line. In the same way and following the route started last year, the Clave channel of Cuban Television will become the Cubadisco Channel, with 15 hours of transmissions per day, including the event’s Awards Gala.
This time, 138 nominated record and audiovisual productions aspire to thirty awards in different categories, including a Grand Prize, informed the organizers of the contest, who explained that on this occasion the number of specialists from all over the Island was increased to more than 250 who participated in the evaluation of the works in competition.
In addition, as usual, Extraordinary and Honor Prizes were awarded –among them to the American artists Estela Bravo, Barbara Dane and Harry Belafonte–, as well as six International Awards, two of which were delivered this Monday to the German pianist Sebastian Schunke and the Belgian singer Mari Bel, and one had already been delivered the day before to the Mexican singer-songwriter Rosalía León.
Cubadisco, whose first edition was held in 1997, will be dedicated this year to the music of the United States, and will feature various presentations in Havana communities, in which nominated and award-winning artists will participate, including some of those who have come from outside the Island. The theoretical symposium, a meeting of sound engineers and the traditional First Line section will also form part of its program of activities.
