Manuel Ochoa Ochoa

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He began his studies with his mother Caridad Ochoa, who was an excellent Opera singer graduated from the Royal Conservatory of San Fernando de Cadiz, the place where Manuel de Falla studied music.

He made his professional debut at the age of 17 conducting the opera "Il Trovatore" by Giuseppe Verdi. Later, he was the director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Havana. Between 1942 and 1946 he founded the Choral Society in Havana. In his capacity as director of this society, he presented renowned artists in Havana, among them the famous Vienna Boys' Choir which served as inspiration for him to found the Singing Children of Havana.

He graduated from the National Conservatory of Music in Havana and became the most important Choir director in Havana, where he conducted the Madrigalist Choir considered the best of its time.

He graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Madrid and continued his studies at Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy with maestro Bonaventura Somma and in Vienna with maestro Hermann Scherchen, one of the most important German orchestra conductors.

Upon his return to Cuba he was appointed professor of conducting techniques at the National Conservatory and director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Havana. He later returned to Europe and was director of the Orchestra and Choir of the National Radio of Spain, the Chamber Orchestra of Madrid and Piccola Opera Di Roma.

In 1959 he performed the music of Esteban Salas - considered the first classical composer of the Americas - which had been lost for 150 years. In 1960 he conducted the first recording of the music of Esteban Salas: his famous Christmas carols. Years later he presented the premiere of Esteban Salas' music in the United States.

In 1966 he went into exile and in 1989 he created the Miami Symphony, despite the scarce interest of the community at that time, becoming the first Hispanic orchestra conductor appointed in the United States. In June of 2000 he performed at Carnegie Hall in New York with the Miami Symphony Orchestra in a successful presentation in which they performed works by Joaquín Turina, Joaquín Rodrigo and Alberto Ginastera, and culminated with the work of Saint Saëns, Symphony No. 3. The presentation was warmly received with a prolonged ovation from the audience.

With a prolonged artistic history of 58 years, Maestro Ochoa earned the respect of hundreds of musicians whom he conducted in Europe, Latin America and the United States. In 1989, Maestro Manuel Ochoa founded the Miami Symphony Orchestra as a cultural expression of that city's multiethnic community. The Orchestra is unique in the United States; founded by a Hispanic conductor, the majority of the Board of Directors members are Hispanic and the orchestra members are from 28 different nationalities.