Beatriz Corona, first woman to win Ibermúsicas Prize for Choral Composition

March 2, 2021

The choral director and music producer, Beatriz Corona, received the Ibermúsicas Prize for Choral Composition on Monday, thus becoming the first woman to merit this honor.

"Another award for Cuba and especially in these times, I am happy and delighted for the women, and for the women composers in Cuba, to join these programs and fight for their spaces," expressed the award-winning composer, who added that it is very good that instructors are considered and that women earn their place as creators.

According to the Ibermúsicas digital website, a jury made up of the great master Digna Guerra, from Cuba, and the maestros Rodrigo Cadet, from Mexico, and Esteban Louise, from Uruguay, evaluated the 156 works submitted to the competition and chose as winner "Martianas" presented under the pseudonym Chedaca, which corresponds to Cuban composer Beatriz Corona Rodríguez.

The jury highlighted the very high compositional level reflected in a large number of works, which, while greatly enriching the competition material, generated an intense and friendly debate among its three members.

Regarding the winning proposal, they stated: "It is an original work, a set of five pieces for mixed choir, based on texts by Martí, composed using rhythmic elements of Cuban music, specifically, genres such as the habanera, the guajira, the son and the danzon, always using absolutely tonal, lyrical music.

Cuba has been a member of the Ibermúsicas Program since 2016, and during these years artists from here have been honored such as Alejandro Falcón, Eme Alfonso, Ivette Letuse, Verónica Cruz, and have served as jury members Argelia Fragoso, Liuba María Hevia, among others.

Carole Fernández Martínez, director of Colibrí Productions and Cuba's representative to Ibermúsicas, acknowledges that this is a prize of firsts in this category (choral composition), since for the first time a Cuban participates on the jury (Digna Guerra), it is the first time a woman is awarded, and the same occurs with a Cuban in general.

As a composer, arranger, and choral director and music producer, Beatriz Corona has a career that places her as one of the most solid and prestigious choral music composers in Cuba.