Ildefonso Acosta Escobar

Acosta Escobar, guitarist, concert performer, teacher and composer from Matanzas, played guitar in a self-taught manner since childhood. He was part of several musical groups and graduated in Guitar specialty from the Instituto Superior de Arte.

Among his main contributions stands out being the creator of a didactic method for teaching popular guitar and a defender of the training of amateur artists. In 2019 he was awarded the National Music Prize.

Ildefonso is one of the most notable natives of Matanzas in the recent history of this city where he began his studies in violin with Cándido Faílde and trumpet with Rafael Somavilla Pedroso and Dagoberto Hernández Piloto. Since childhood he played guitar in a self-taught manner. He was part of several musical groups.

He began his artistic career in 1954 with the Trío Tropical, of voices and guitars, of which he was director and arranger, he was a trumpeter in jazz-band ensembles. After 1959 he worked as a soloist in activities of the National Council of Culture. He has given recitals throughout the country.

He composed works for guitar, as well as transcriptions of various works. He was founder and guitar teacher at the Vocational Music Center of Matanzas Aniceto Díaz. Author of "Quintet for two Cuban instrumentations," with which he obtained the Chamber Music Prize in the July 26 Competition of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, in 1974, and, "Tribute to the 26," symphonic poem for choir and orchestra.

Pedagogical Contributions
He is a graduate in Music with specialty in Guitar from the Instituto Superior de Arte, founder of the Ignacio Cervantes Professional Improvement School, today Center for Cultural Improvement, guitar teacher and member of graduation boards. Assistant Professor at the Instituto Superior Pedagógico Juan Marinello of Matanzas, Adjunct of the Evangelical Seminary of Theology, Guest lecturer at the Faculty of Medical Sciences and at the Universidad Camilo Cienfuegos.

Repertorist of musical groups, advisor and voice arrangement of various vocal groups in the 1960s. Among his contributions are shown:

Creator of a didactic method for popular guitar.
Attention to the training and artistic performance of amateur artists.
Lecturer and jury member with participation in multiple international guitar and composition events, sharing the stage with maestro Leo Brouwer and American professor Federico Smith in the National Symphonic Orchestra and the Symphonic Orchestra of Matanzas.
Concert Performer
He has devoted his life uninterruptedly to music, performing hundreds of recitals, concerts, lectures, teaching and physical-acoustic research. He has performed in the most relevant halls, theaters and institutions in Cuba and various countries in Europe and the United States with successes and recognitions endorsed by the public and specialized critics. Participation in international guitar and composition events as performer, composer, lecturer and/or jury member.

He has recorded albums for the Areito and Siboney labels of EGREM of Cuba, MELODIA of Russia and Harbord Side Productions of the United States and made special recordings for Cuban radio and television, Radio Nova of Paris, Radio Moscow, Radio Cadena of Málaga, radio and television of Poland and BBC of London among others. He has performed concerts sent to him by foreign composers for their Cuban premiere.

Versatile guitarist, Acosta gracefully combines mastery of guitar technique, harmony and resources of classical guitar with those of popular music. As a performer his repertoire ranges from the baroque of Juan Sebastián Bach, in his Chacona in D, to the Spain of Francisco Tárrega with his Recuerdos de la Alhambra, without disdaining the Guantanamera of Joseíto Fernández.

Composer
His catalog covers popular music, music for guitar, music for children, symphonic music, chamber music, multimedia music and incidental music for national radio and television. Creator of versions for guitar based on Cuban and international folk and popular music, a singular aspect as a creator and performer.

But the performer is at the same time a composer; in Regalo de Papel—a work that deserves particular attention (Suggestion to bossa-nova)—starting from a beautiful initial melody that seems to lead to a bossa-nova in the manner of Chico Buarque de Holanda, the form of this popular music from Brazil. His version for guitar of popular and folk music from Cuba and other countries is another aspect to highlight in his work as a creator, whose singularity lies in respect for the original, to which he contributes his qualities as a composer, harmonist and performer. He shows mastery of modulation, imagination and thorough knowledge of troubadour form. As a performer, Ildefonso Acosta demonstrates that he can interpret the most current trends of contemporary music such as Son para guitarra by José Loyola, a sui generis piece of popular music, while in Diario, by Nader Kuéera, dedicated to Ernesto Che Guevara, the performer brings to bear his ability to interpret the thoughts and emotional states that the composer intended in this work in the five segments into which he divides it.

Founder
He was founder of the international event CUBADANZON. Founder of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba in 1961 and of its Provincial Committee in Matanzas in 1978 of which he was President for 14 consecutive years and 20 years member of the National Council of said organization. His physical-acoustic studies led to the creation of chordophone instruments of the highest quality made in the country, built in Matanzas by luthier Pablo Quintana.

Awards and Distinctions
From Interkoncert and Musical Youth of Hungary
From the Ministry of Art and Culture of Poland
From the Ministry and Union of Culture of Cuba
From the Cremona-Italy School of Lutherie
Seal of Laureate from the National Center of Workers of Cuba
Medal "Distinguished Visitor" from the mayor's office of the city of Málaga, Spain
WHITE Prize for professional concert music.
Nicolás Guillén Diploma from the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).
Distinction For National Culture
Lifetime Prize "Calzada de Tirry"
Amadeo Roldán Diploma from the National Association of Music of UNEAC
Order for the Tercentenary of the city of Matanzas.
His book "Strings of Memory" is published at the 2005 International Book Fair. Ildefonso Acosta has been "Nominated for the National Music Prize."

Tours and Festivals
He has toured in

United States.
Hungary.
Bulgaria.
Czechoslovakia.
Poland.
Romania.
Italy.
Spain.
As a performer he has participated in

International Guitar Festivals of Havana.
International Guitar Festival of Esztergom, Hungary.
Autumn of Moscow.
Autumn of Leningrad.
Silesian Autumn of Guitar, Poland.
He has performed under the batons of Cubans, Manuel Duchesne Cuzán, Tomás Fortín, Reynol Álvarez, Roberto Sánchez Ferrer among many others; Colombian Blas Emilio Atheortua, and Polish Joseph Wuikemirski.
Works
Instrumental Ensemble

1954. Bachiana Mambo, for jazz-band.
1957. Canimar, for string orchestra and jazz-band.
1964. Fantasy, for guitar and string orchestras.
1974. Quintet for two Cuban instrumentations.
Variations to the complex pentaphone, 1976, for wind quintet.
Instrumentation, III and IV, 1982, for flute and guitar.
Children's Choir.

Sing, singing, let us sing.
Guitar
1965. Samba.
1969. Regalo de papel.
1978. Your woman's name.
1985. Poem
1986. Theme of remembrance.
1988. Zoila.
1989. Theme of the mountain.
Suite of the field <>, <>, <>, <> and <>.
Prelude.

Incidental Music
1975. Identification (for the documentary Matanzas toward the future).
1984. Poem (for the documentary Carilda).
1985. Theme of remembrance (for the documentary Who are you Ildefonso Acosta?).
1988. Theme of the Mountain (for the documentary series Che).

Religious Music
Credo, for voice and guitar

Symphonic Orchestra
1968. Your woman's name.
1969. Regalo de papel.
1973. Tribute to the 26, for mixed choir and orchestra.

Guitar Versions
Jarabe tapatío (Mexican folklore) and El currito de la cruz (Spanish pasodoble), 1951.
La comparsa (Ernesto Lecuona), 1952.
Tico tico (samba) and Moonlight Serenade (Glenn Miller), 1953.
La comparsita (Argentine folklore), 1955.
Siboney (Ernesto Lecuona) and Jealousy (tango), 1958.
Los tres golpes (Ignacio Cervantes), 1961.
Laura (I. Mercier and D. Raskin) and María Elena (Lorenzo Barcelata), for two guitars, 1963.
Peruvian Waltz (anonymous), for two guitars, and El amor de mi bohío (Julio Brito), 1964.
Guajira guantanamera (Joseíto Fernández), 1970.
Breaking the routine (Aniceto Díaz), 1972.
March of July 26 (Agustín Díaz Cartaya), 1947.
Ogguere (Gilberto Valdéz), 1979.