Félix Guerrero

He was born in La Habana (Cuba). He began his musical training with his father and perfected his piano technique and his knowledge of harmony and composition with César Pérez Sentenat, Pedro Sanjuán, and Amadeo Roldán, respectively. He also studied at the Juilliard School in New York and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.

Director of theatrical orchestras and mass media, he accompanied Ernesto Lecuona on his tour through Spain (1953), who entrusted him with musical direction for the recordings of his zarzuelas MARÍA LA O, EL CAFETAL, and ROSA LA CHINA, with renowned Spanish singers and the Chamber Orchestra of Madrid.

In 1959 he collaborated with the maestro on the "Lecuona Festivals," which constituted the composer's final presentations in Cuba.

In 1961 he was appointed director of the Sinfónica de Teatro Orchestra. Founder and first musical director of the Teatro Lírico Nacional de Cuba, an ensemble of which he subsequently assumed general direction. In his performance of these positions he directed all titles in the company's repertoire. Among them several productions of CECILIA VALDÉS stand out; one directed by Modesto Centeno in 1969; another by Aldo Lario in 1974, which introduced the title in Central Europe; and the last by Roberto Blanco in 1978, for which he created a new orchestration.

He premiered the Cuban operas LOS DÍAS LLENOS by Natalio Galán and Antón Arrufat in 1962, and SOYÁN by Jorge Berroa in 1980.

He also directed the exhumation of LA ESCLAVA by José Mauri in 1978, and the first complete sound recording of CECILIA VALDÉS in 1990. As a composer he is credited with several pieces of symphonic character.

Complete zarzuelas:
María la O, Rosa la China, El cafetal. Ed.: Montilla (1956)
Cecilia Valdés. Ed.: Artex (1990)

Fragments and selections:
Las de Villadiego, Las Leandras, Gran Revista, Dólares (by Celia Gámez and the Montilla Orchestra). Ed.: Montilla (1958)

He developed a commendable career as a professor at the Conservatorio García Caturla and as founder of the Instituto Superior de Arte. He was also a founder of Cuban Television. He founded the Teatro Lírico and the Orchestra of the Teatro Nacional (today Gran Teatro de La Habana), and directed the Ballet and Opera orchestras. At the Teatro Amadeo Roldán and with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, on October 16, 1965, he conducted the first performance in Cuba of the "Concierto de Aranjuez" by Joaquín Rodrigo, with guitarist Leo Brouwer as soloist. As a composer, he wrote mainly for theater and film. He also created works such as "Tríptico campesino" for voice and orchestra, "Cuadros sonoros" for French horn and orchestra, "Suite cubana," and "Homenaje al Sóngoro Cosongo," among others.

The maestro passed away in La Habana due to respiratory failure.