María Felicia Pérez Arroyo

For her knowledge of music, her general culture, her beautiful soprano voice and her artistic mastery, she ranks today as one of the most important choir directors of our time.

She was born in La Habana. She completed her studies at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, 1962-1968; she continued them at the National School of Art, 1968-1971, where she was a student of Carmen Collado and of the Hungarian Agnes Kralowsky, choral direction, and Margot Rojas, piano.

With Kralowsky she delved into the in-depth study of composers Claudio Monteverdi and Zoltán Kodály. In 1976 she entered the Franz Liszt School of Music, Weimar, Germany, where she was a student of choral direction under Gunter Fredrich, with whom she graduated in 1982.

Once she graduated from secondary level in 1971, she began working as a professor at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, and from 1974 to 1976, at the National School of Art Instructors.

Between 1982 and 1990, she worked as a choral singing professor at the Institute of Higher Art; in that same period she founded and directed the women's choir of the National School of Music. But her most accomplished work as a director has been the creation of the Exaudi Chamber Choir, founded in 1987 by students and graduates of the National School of Music and the Institute of Higher Art.

In September 1998 she began working at the Institute of Higher Art. She is a Full Professor in the Department of Choral Direction. Since April 2008, when the VII Congress of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC) was held, she was elected Vice President of the Association of Musicians of this organization that brings together the best of Cuban creation and intellectuality.

Professor of Choral Direction at the National School of Music, where she has remained to the present day as a member of its faculty. She has trained several generations of choir directors during her 28 years of work at the Middle-Professional Level.

In the 1980s she carried out intense work in the field of choral music as an Adviser for this specialty in the Department of Artistic Education of the Ministry of Culture and as a member of juries for national festivals and competitions. She actively supported the professional development of teachers in the specialty by teaching national seminars, conducting inspections in the provinces, and participating in meetings and festivals of the Schools of Art.

She was part of the collective of authors who prepared the plans and curricula for the subjects taught in Choral Direction education in the improvements made between 1982 and 1990.

She has conducted workshops in:

México
Chile
Venezuela
Hungría
Alemania
Australia
España

Awards and Participations

The EXAUDI Chamber Choir has participated in prestigious European choral competitions, obtaining the following distinctions:

1989 Won the IV National Festival of Chamber Music of La Habana, Prize for Artistic Mastery.
1990 XIV International Choir Competition "Béla Bartók", Debrecen, Hungría: 1st Prize in the Chamber Choir category and Prize for the folklore program. In this competition María Felicia was selected by the jury as one of the 5 best directors of the event.
1991 They performed at the IV International Vinicio Adames Festival, held in Maracaibo, Venezuela.
1992 XXIV International Choral Masses Competition of Tolosa, España:
1st Prize in the Folklore category
3rd Prize in the Polyphony category
Grand Prix of the competition and Audience Prize.
1993 European Grand Prix for Choral Singing, Varna, Bulgaria: 2nd Place.
Harmonie 93 Festival, Lindenholzhausen, Alemania: 1st Prize.
III International Competition for Chamber Choirs of Marktoberdorf, Alemania: 3rd Prize and "Internationally excellent" category.
XXV International Choral Masses Competition of Tolosa, España: 1st Prize in the Folklore category and Prize for the best interpretation of a Basque work.
1994 XL International Competition of Habaneras and Polyphony of Torrevieja, Alicante, España: 1st Prize in the Polyphony category.
2005 LI International Competition of Habaneras and Polyphony of Torrevieja, Alicante, España: 1st Prize in the Habaneras category.

Distinctions

She has been awarded the distinctions
"For Cuban Education" in 1991
"For National Culture" in 1993
The Medal "Alejo Carpentier" in 2002
The Order "Félix Varela" of 1st degree in 2004

In 1962 Master María Felicia Pérez began her work in the field of choral music. It was not like now, when children are in the Conservatory from age seven, recalls the interpreter.

She began in the now-defunct choir of the National Library "José Martí", directed by Master Carmen Valdés, a person who deserves to be remembered more because she is a personality of culture. Her assistant was Master Carmen Collado, current director of the Polyphonic Choir of La Habana, very young then.

Master Electo Silva, director of the Orfeón Santiago, would come and mount his compositions, and she loved it.

Later María Felicia Pérez would enroll in piano at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, studying under Carmen Collado, Guido López-Gavilán and Frank Fernández; before beginning at the National School of Art (ENA), where she decided her definitive path.

She realized in time that she was not going to be a good instrumentalist. For me it was frustrating. And in the choir she found her place, she confessed.

Upon graduating in 1971, without completing higher studies, she embraced pedagogy: a career that she still pursues with the necessary rigor. It is said that each teacher has his own book, nevertheless, something must have stayed with her from those who contributed to her training.

She had luxury teachers whom she remembers and loves dearly such as Enrique Bellver, in Harmony; Edgardo Martín, in History of Music; María del Carmen Alonso in Appreciation.

Margot Rojas was her piano professor. She, as a great pedagogue, knew that I was not going to be a pianist, so she taught me music. All the music theory of her life she learned in the four years at the Conservatory, with extraordinary teachers.

At ENA she studied choral direction with Carmen Collado and later was a student of the Hungarian Agnes Kralovsky, who graduated her.

There were so many: Argelia Fragoso, Alina Orraca, José Antonio Méndez… That was a great beginning because she taught them in the European way. In that stage she directed choirs at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, and was in charge of many amateur groups, something she recommends to those who are starting out.

She acquired those experiences in the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Federation of Secondary School Students; with whom she worked for five years and achieved impressive results.

In 1976, she went to Weimar, Germany, where she studied at the Franz Liszt School of Music, and in 1980 she returned as a different person.

That time was wonderful. The truth is that she had a lot of contact with European composers. Nothing new because Kralovsky had already put us in contact with those works, but the rigor was immense, the pedagogs excellent; and best of all: the artistic life that existed there.

The year 1987 marked the professional history of María Felicia Pérez, when she founded Exaudi, which placed her at the pinnacle.

She arrived in Cuba with the desire to achieve a warm, Cuban sound. She already had the discipline of the German school and the practice of singing there, and since 1982 with a women's choir from ENA, which she maintained until 1990.

Then, one day, as she was leaving a concert at the school, Master María Elena Mendiola became interested in the idea of founding a mixed choir, which would allow her to achieve a greater repertoire.

That is how Exaudi was created.

At the helm of the ensemble, after receiving the first award for artistic mastery at the Fourth National Festival of Chamber Music of La Habana, several international prizes followed in Hungría, España and Alemania, for interpretive excellence and in the modalities of polyphony and folklore.

Some time later, in 1990, she was among the five best choir masters at the International Bela Bartok Festival in Hungría.