Mario Romeu González

Pianist and composer. He is among the greats in Cuba

He was born in Regla, Havana. Descendant of a family of musicians, from childhood he was surrounded by an environment conducive to the art of sounds. All endowed with singular mastery in their artistic work.

He began his studies under the direction of his father, Armando Romeu, and his sister, pianist Zenaida Romeu. Later he perfected his studies with pianist Jascba Fisherman.

The press cataloged him as a "child prodigy". Before turning four years old, he played piano four-handed with his father at the Teatro Nacional. At eleven he performed Mozart and at fourteen he gave up a promising scholarship to continue the tour of the Cuban Navy Band under his father's direction through dozens of American cities, in which Mario performed the classics. He obtained a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia.

In 1938 he obtained a scholarship in the United States. He made his first professional presentation at the Encanto theater, performing as a soloist and, at two pianos, with his sister Zenaida. Later he performed with the orchestra of the CMZ radio station, as a soloist, and in 1940 in the Hall of the Museum of Fine Arts.

He developed an intense career as a concert performer, composer, arranger, and orchestra conductor. He performed a cycle of sonatas at the Auditorium theater. He performed, in a duo with pianist and composer Ernesto Lecuona, several dances. At the National Conservatory he performed the Symphonic Variations by César Franck, and with the orchestra of the Tropicana cabaret, he played jazz.

At the Lyceum of Güines he performed the Hungarian Fantasia by Franz Liszt. He conducted, in 1948, the orchestra of the Fausto theater. In 1951 he performed with the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Mayer.

Upon his return to Cuba, he conducted the orchestra of the newly inaugurated Cuban Television, replacing Alfredo Brito, with which he accompanied, among others, pianists Liberace and Carmen Cavalaro, and singers Sarita Montiel and Lucho Gatica.

He has occasionally performed as an orchestra conductor. He is an accompanist pianist as well as a concert performer.

From 1959 onwards, he was director of the orchestra of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television with which he accompanied pianist Frank Fernández in Rhapsody in Blue, by American composer George Gershwin.

He composed the music for the Cuban film La bella del Alhambra by Enrique Pineda Barnet, for which he obtained the Coral Award for Best Soundtrack at the XI Festival of New Latin American Cinema held in Havana, 1989.

Despite the humility and shyness that characterize him, he has received outstanding honors that recognize his artistic merit, his dedication to Cuban music, to national Radio and Television, and to his country. Among these the following awards stand out:

Distinction for National Culture
Emeritus Artist of Radio and Television (2004)
National Television Award (2005)
Raúl Gómez García Medal
Member of Merit of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).

Mario Romeu González still makes music in the intimacy of his home with his beloved Rosalía.