Piano Cubano Yamilé Cruz Montero

• Ernesto Lecuona (1895 - 1963): Danzas Afro-Cubanas:
• 1 IV. Danza de los Ñañigos 02:34
• 2 III. Y la Negra Bailaba! 02:24
• Andalucía "Suite Espagnole":
• 3 I. Córdoba 03:10
• 4 II. Andaluza 02:33
• 5 III. Alhambra 04:14
• 6 IV. Gitanerías 01:48
• 7 V. Guadalquivir 04:30
• 8 VI. Malagueña 04:07
• 6 Sones Sencillos:
• 9 No. 1, — 01:41
• 10 No. 2, — 01:56
• 11 No. 3, — 01:04
• 12 No. 4, — 02:34
• 13 No. 5, — 02:13
• 14 No. 6, — 03:34
• Son Sencillo No. 7:
• 15 Son Sencillo No. 7 02:25
• Alta Gracia:
• 16 Alta Gracia 08:14
• Andrés Alén (1950):
• 17 Variations on Silvio Rodríguez's Theme 15:59
• 18 Emiliano 05:10
• Total Runtime 01:10:10

Info for Piano Cubano

Some of the finest, most stylistically diverse and exciting Cuban piano music can be heard in this disc. Ernesto Lecuona is one of the greatest of all Latin-American composers. Malagueña, from the suite Andalucía, is considered the most powerful representation of Spain in Cuban music. Drawing on the Cuban genes of son and cancíon, the music of Carlos Fariñas radiates vivid colours, while that of Andrés Alén Rodríguez blends song, habanera and jazz influences.

Yamilé Cruz Montero (b. 1985, Havana) studied at the Manuel Saumell Conservatory, the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory and at the Superior Institute of Art in Cuba. She was awarded the Master of Music degree by the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (University of Music and Performing Arts Munich), and a scholarship by the Richard Wagner Association Munich for young artists. She has received awards from the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory Competition in 2002, the María Clara Cullell International Piano Competition, Costa Rica in 2004, and the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists in 2010, among others.

She made her début at 15 years old, subsequently performing in all the prestigious concert halls in Cuba. She was the first Cuban woman to perform the Third Piano Concerto of Prokofiev and has performed at major events and festivals in Havana. In addition to her European classical repertoire, Montero devotes herself particularly to Latin American composers, presenting new and unknown works.

Yamile Cruz Montero, piano

Yamile Cruz Montero
The Cuban pianist Yamile Cruz Montero has recorded her debut album at Bavarian Broadcasting (BR) and will be released by Grand Piano-Naxos Records in 2017.

She is a graduate of the piano master course (Master of Music) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich (class of Prof. Adrian Oetiker, 2014). Besides classical European repertoire she devotes herself particularly to the modern age among the Latin-American composers. In this tension field she presents to her audience unknown, rhythmically rousing world sounds and contrasts.

Born in Havana in 1985, she began studying piano at the age of 7 with Professor Lazaro Hernandez. Then she continued her studies at Manuel Saumel Conservatory, after at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory where she graduated under the guidance of María Teresa Pita and finally at the Superior Institute of Art ISA. There she studied with the respected instruction of Andrés Alén, Miriam Cruz and Patricio Malcolm and she received her diploma with highest honors in June of 2009. During her studies she taught at the Conservatory Guillermo Tomás.

As a soloist, she made her debut at the age of 15 in Havana, later became known performing in all prestigious concert halls of Cuba. With the “Orquestra Nacional de Cuba” in 2007 under the direction of Enrique Pérez Mesa she was the first cuban woman to perform the third concerto for piano of Sergei Prokofiev. In addition, he was invited to major events and festivals such as the Festival of Contemporary Music in Havana, the Chamber Music Festival of Havana and the International Music Festival Carlos Fariñas.

With appearances in Uruguay, as a guest of the pianist and teacher Raquel Boldorini at the International Piano Cycle in Montevideo in 2005, she began her international career and after that she played to Costa Rica and Venezuela. After concerts under the auspices of the Greek ambassador in Cuba in 2010, the first contact to Europe was subject, which eventually led later to Poland and finally to Germany.

She received awards as a pianist at the following competitions: Competition Amadeo Roldán 2002 (2nd prize), Competition Musicalia 2002 (2nd prize), International Competition María Clara Cullell 2004 Costa Rica (2nd prize), Competition Musicalia 2007 (1st prize) and Competition of the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC) 2010 (2nd prize).

In 2009 she was involved as a producer and performer in two CD productions: On “Pianos” of the Cuban composer Beatriz Corona, as well as “20 Pianos” of the Cuban pianist, jazz musician and composer Ernán López-Nussa.

Original compositions of her for the “Teatro de la Luna” (Havana) were performed at the 36th Theater Festival of Mülheim/ Ruhr 2011. There she worked as a pianist in the staging of “The Golden Dragon” of the playwriter Roland Schimmelpfenning.

In 2015 she recorded for the debut album of the young German composer Andreas Begert which is going to be released soon by Paschen Records.

She was scholarschip holder by the Richard Wagner Association in 2016.

Booklet for Piano Cubano