Karelia Escalante Colás

Outstanding pianist and teacher. She has performed in the most important concert halls in the country.

She began her studies at the Municipal Music Conservatory of La Habana (today Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán), completed her music studies at the Tchaikovsky conservatory in Moscow, where she graduated in 1963.

Upon returning to Cuba after completing her studies in 1966, Karelia taught classes at the National School of Music (ENA) and actively participated in the National Piano Commission, where she, along with other members, performed excellent work sharing her experiences and knowledge in seminars, open classes, as well as in what were then called "control and assistance" to music schools throughout the Island.

When the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) was founded, she had the opportunity to demonstrate her mastery at that institution, where she also served from 1981-1984 as dean of the Faculty of Music. She was then invited to work in the Dominican Republic where she taught piano classes.

After working for a few years in the Dominican Republic, Karelia returned to La Habana and resumed her work at the Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán. She recently went to Madrid to spend time with her daughter and there she was overtaken by death.

When she returns to Cuba she performed in the most important concert halls in the country and with the National Symphony Orchestras of Camagüey and Villa Clara and alongside instrumental soloists and singers of the caliber of Jesús Ortega and Lucy Provedo.

She is credited with the first performances in Cuba of works by Héctor Angulo, Jorge García-Porrúa and the Mexican Mario Lavista.

Discography
LD-EGREM: Orquesta Sinfónica de Camaguey (4244), 1985.
LD-EGREM: Jesús Ortega y Karelia Escalante en concierto (4537), 1989