Cuban composer and pianist Tania León celebrates her 80th birthday

The Cuban pianist and composer Tania Leon This Sunday he celebrated his 80th birthday, full of professional successes and active in musical creation.

Leon was born in Havana on May 14, 1943 and currently resides in the United States. She is recognized for her work as a pianist, but also for her achievements as a composer, conductor, educator, and artistic advisor to international organizations.

Her passion for music began as a child in Cuba and her grandmother was the one who introduced her to the study of piano at an academy.

"I started in the world of music unexpectedly. My grandmother realized that as a child, I was four years old, I really liked the radio and when changing the stations, if there was music, I would dance to the music. Also There were opportunities where there were songs and I repeated the songs exactly as I heard them. (…) I repeated it in the same tone. That inspired her a lot, she thought that I liked music and she took me to a conservatory," she said. lion in a interview.

In February the Cuban composer became a resident of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The appointment will cover two seasons, starting in September.

In 2022 León was one of the eight people honored by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for his contribution to American culture. Received the Annual Kennedy Center Honors Award alongside artists such as George Clooney, Amy Grant, Gladys Knight and U2.

The Cuban composer was awarded in 2021 with the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his orchestral work "Stride" which premiered in February 2020 by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

This work was described by the Pulitzer jury as a "musical journey full of surprises, with powerful brass and rhythmic motifs that incorporate the traditions of black music from the United States and the Caribbean into a Western orchestral fabric."

Tania Leon She has developed intense work as a professor at different universities in the United States and around the world. He has received numerous awards for his academic work as well as for his artistic creation.

She is currently honorary president of the Composers and Songwriters wing of the Recording Academy and serves on the Boards of Directors of the New York Philharmonic and The ASCAP Foundation.