Calixto César Álvarez Fernández

Cuban musician who performed musical instruments from a very early age. He has composed and performed music of different genres.

Calixto Álvarez was born in Santa Isabel de las Lajas, Cienfuegos, Cuba. At five years old he began to perform works with musical instruments.

He studied at the Conservatory of Santa Clara, at the International Conservatory of Havana and in the United States, where he resided from 1958 to 1966. In the USA, he studied piano, organ and composition. In Cuba he received lessons from Leo Brouwer, Federico Smith and José Ardévol. He pursued higher studies at the Superior School of Music in Warsaw, Poland where he was a student of Dobrowolski and Kotonski.

He is a composer and author of numerous scores conceived for the Cuban stage. Additionally, he composes choral music. He also composes so-called incidental music for dramatic pieces, among which stand out the productions of Teatro Estudio: "Las impuras," "La duodécima noche" and of Teatro Irrumpe: "La dolorosa historia del amor secreto de don José Jacinto Milanés." He has written: "Los musiquillos de Bremen" (musical comedy, libretto by Julio Babrusquinas); "Lysistrata" (musical comedy); "Venus and Adonis" (electroacoustic opera, adaptation of Shakespeare's poem by A. Suárez del Villar).

He directed the Children's Choir of the National Lyric Theater of Cuba, for which he has produced "Viva la música" (musical comedy), "Las aceitunas" (zarzuela, adaptation of Lope de Rueda's paso); "Siempre Caperucita" (musical comedy); "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" (musical comedy).

Other works
"Canto Cardinal" (for contralto, piano and percussion)
"Theme and 6 Variations for Piano" (1967)
"Poker (for string quartet)" (1970)
"Torus pour Contrabasse" (1969)
"Canon II for Piano and Magnetic Tape" (1981)
He uses in his work "Electronic Tale," electronic and acoustic materials (1982).

Awards
In 2002 he received the Alejo Carpentier medal.