Alina de los Milagros Orraca Llama

Choir director and pedagogue. She is one of the most important and creative Cuban choir directors.

She was born in La Habana. She completed her studies at the Conservatorio Esther Mateu de Guanabacoa, and continued them at the Escuela Nacional de Arte, (ENA); graduating in Choral Direction in 1975 under Hungarian professor Agnes Kralovszky.

Completing her studies in 1981 at the Instituto Superior de Arte, (ISA), where she graduated with a degree in Music, specializing in Choir Direction under professor Digna Guerra Ramírez.

Director of the Schola Cantorum Coralina of the Centro Nacional de Música de Concierto. And Director of the Coral Juan Pablo II (archdiocese choir of La Habana).

A professional with extensive teaching experience in the field of music, who has transmitted this knowledge at the Escuela Nacional de Música, at the Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán de La Habana and at various courses, workshops and symposiums in Cuba and abroad, in countries such as:

Sweden
Nicaragua
Venezuela
Argentina
Brazil
Spain
Vatican
Mexico
Canada

She was the founder of:
Chamber Choir of the Escuela Nacional de Música, 1979-1994
Schola Cantorum Coralina, 1993
Escolanía de la Capilla del Rosario, 1996
In 1997 of the Archdiocese Choir of La Habana

Activities that have been under her direction since then.
As a pedagogue she has taught at the Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán, and from 1975 onwards at the Escuela Nacional de Música, in the subjects of choral direction, score reading, vocal technique and methodology for choir direction.

In 1998 she conducted a giant choir of 420 voices during the mass of Pope Juan Pablo II in the city of La Habana.

With the Schola Cantorum Coralina she has performed in concerts, festivals and competitions held in Cuba, Sweden, Venezuela, Brazil, Spain.

In this last country she participated in the XVIII Course of Choral Direction, Singing and Vocal Technique, organized by the Sociedad Cultural Camerata Ad Limitum de Pontevedra, under the direction of maestro Julio Domínguez; the event offered the opportunity to take advanced classes to the participating groups, with guest maestros Tamara Brooks, United States, and Kevin Smith, Holland.

The Cuban choir Schola Cantorum Coralina, directed by Alina Orraca, offered a concert at the Multiuso "La Redondela" in the Iberian town; it also performed at

La Iglesia La Guardia
El Auditorio de Goyan
Vila Praya de Ancora-Portugal
Tui.

Awards and Recognitions
She has received the following awards and recognitions:
Second Prize at the 8th Festival of Young Musicians and Actors in Vienna, Austria.
First place in the Isaac Albéniz competition in Spain.
Award granted for literary and artistic creation.
Recognized with the La Edad de Oro del Centenario award for her achievements in art in the development of children.
Medal of Cuban Education
Medal of Cuban Culture (1991)
Awarded with the maximum price among cultural workers for six consecutive years (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 2000, 2001)
Diploma for Pedagogical Merit (1993)
Premio Abril (1996)
Commemorative Medal of the Holiness Pope Juan Pablo II's visit to La Habana. (1998)
Recognition for the centenary of Juan Marinello
Second place in the XVIII Coral Competition Villa de Avilés, Spain 2001
Medalla Alejo Carpentier (2002)
Silver Medal for the Centenary of the Colegio de Médicos de Madrid
Honorary Member of the Fundación doctor Pedro Borrás Astorga de Madrid
Third Prize for interpretation at the XLV Festival de Habaneras y Polifonías, Torrevieja, Spain (with the Schola Cantorum Coralina) 1999.
Second Prize for Choral Music, Villa de Avilés, Spain, 2000.
In 2006, she obtained the Grand Prix Cittá d´ Arezzo in the Guido d´ Arezzo Polyphonic Competition.

Participations
With Schola Cantorum Coralina, she performed at the XXXII Festival del Oratorio Musique en Morvan, city in the French region of Bourgogne, where she performed in the squares of Saint-Lègèr-Sous Baeuvray, Sully and in Autun itself, and concluded her performances in the Gallic country, with concerts in Montcenis and in the Church of Bazoches.

In July 2000 she participated as a teacher at the III National Symposium of Choirs in Mexico City on The Development of Children's Choral Music. And in October of the same year she participated as a speaker at the Congress "Art, Music and Sacrality" held in Valladolid, Spain.

Schola Cantorum Coralina was one of twenty-four international choirs invited to participate in the 8th World Symposium of Choral Music, which took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, 2008, with the main venue being the opera house of that city, one of the most modern opera facilities in the world.

The invited choirs were:
Three from Latin America
Three from Africa
Five from Asia and the Pacific
Three from the United States of North America
Three from Europe outside of Scandinavia
Which would offer concerts at the opera and in concert halls in the city. Coralina participated in the second half of the event with concerts.

The World Symposium of Choral Music (WSCM) is the most important international exchange event in the choral world. It takes place every three years and its most recent venues have been Minneapolis, United States, 2002, and Kyoto, Japan, 2005.

In 2008, Alina Orraca, at the head of the choir she directs, performed in Germany, Denmark and Spain

International Competitions
The XVIII International Choir Competition of Miltenberg, Bavaria, Germany.
The VIII International Choral Music Competition of Copenhagen, Denmark.
The LXXV Music Festival of Santander, Spain.
Later they performed in Portugal where they received favorable reviews.

Recordings
She has done recording work with different Cuban artists such as Pablo Milanés, Héctor Quintero and Silvio Rodríguez.

She made two LP records with the Chamber Choir of the ENA in 1979 and 1987.
With the Schola Cantorum Coralina she recorded five albums:
"Coralina Para un tiempo"
"Cantos de la Misa del Papa en la Habana"
"Coralina"
"... eternamente en mi"
"Cánteme", the latter with choral arrangements of songs by Silvio Rodríguez.

Filmography
She has recorded the soundtracks for several Cuban films, such as
Derecho de Asilo
Kleines Tropicana
Hasta Victoria Siempre

Among others as well as various themes from television series and at the head of her choirs she has worked alongside the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional.