Miriam Esther Escudero Suástegui

Musicologist and professor of Harmony and Counterpoint at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in Havana.

She was born in Havana. She completed her first musical studies with her mother. At the School of Music for Adults: "Gerardo Guanche" in Guanabacoa, she completed the elementary level of piano and later studied the intermediate level in Theoretical Music Subjects at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in Havana. In 1997 she graduated with a degree in Music, specializing in Musicology from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA). She obtained her doctorate in Science on Art in 2010 from the University of Valladolid, Spain.

She is director of the Esteban Salas Musical Heritage Cabinet of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana and coordinator of the Diploma in Hispanic Musical Heritage at the San Gerónimo University College in Havana (University of Havana).

Since 1998 she has worked as a specialist at the Center for Research and Development of Cuban Music (CIDMUC) and the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana. She has participated as a speaker at prestigious international musicology events held in Venezuela, Spain, Italy, Brazil, France, Mexico, and Bolivia.

Between 1997-2012 she was part of the Ars Longa Ancient Music Ensemble as musicologist and organist. During 2000 and 2010 she was in charge of the general coordination of the Esteban Salas Ancient Music Festival. Through her work with Ars Longa, she made possible the realization of a research-interpretation work for the production of three albums dedicated to the work of Esteban Salas (Havana, 1725-Santiago de Cuba, 1803): Nativitéà Santiago de Cuba (CD-K-617, OHCH, 2001, Cubadisco award), Cantus in Honore BeataeMariaeVirginis (CD-K-617, OHCH, 2002, Grand Cubadisco Award) and PassioDomininostriJesuChriste (CD-K-617, OHCH, 2004, Cubadisco Award).

In 2012 she founded and directed the Esteban Salas Musical Heritage Cabinet of the Cultural Heritage Division of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana.

She has conducted important musicological work on Cuba's oldest musical heritage, bringing to light the lost works of the chapel masters of the Cathedral of Havana and the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba.

She carries out an editorial project titled Sacred Music of Cuba, 18th Century, which encompasses ten volumes of transcription, study, and publication of the complete works of Esteban Salas and Cayetano Pagueras. She coordinates and directs the publication of the collections Cuban Musical Heritage (CIDMUC publishing imprint) and Sound Documents of Cuban Musical Heritage (Colibrí-La Ceiba).

She has been a professor at the Instituto Superior de Arte and has given lectures as a visiting professor at the University of Valladolid, the Complutense University of Madrid, and the National School of Music at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Musical Writings
The music archive of the Havana church of La Merced. Study and catalog. Casa de las Américas, Havana, 1997.
"The musical heritage preserved in the ecclesiastical archives of Cuba: cataloging and research situation" in Annals of the III Latin American Musicology Symposium. Cultural Foundation of Curitiba, 2000.
Esteban Salas and the music chapel of the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. Christmas Villancicos and Cantatas. Collection Sacred Music of Cuba, 18th Century, Book I. Office of the Historian of the City of Havana and University of Valladolid, Spain, 2001.
Esteban Salas and the music chapel of the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. Cantus in honore BeataeMariaeVirginis. Collection Sacred Music of Cuba, 18th Century, Book II. Office of the Historian of the City of Havana and University of Valladolid, Spain, 2001.
Esteban Salas and the music chapel of the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. Christmas Villancicos and Cantatas. Collection Sacred Music of Cuba, 18th Century, Book III. Office of the Historian of the City of Havana and University of Valladolid, Spain, 2002.
Esteban Salas and the music chapel of the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. PassioDomininostriJesu Christi. Collection Sacred Music of Cuba, 18th Century, Book IV. Office of the Historian of the City of Havana and University of Valladolid, Spain, 2003.
Esteban Salas and the music chapel of the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. Christmas Villancicos and Cantatas. Collection Sacred Music of Cuba, 18th Century, Book V. Office of the Historian of the City of Havana and University of Valladolid, Spain, 2004.
Esteban Salas and the music chapel of the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. OfficiumDefunctorum et Missæ. Collection Sacred Music of Cuba, 18th Century, Book VI. Office of the Historian of the City of Havana and University of Valladolid, Spain, 2005.
Esteban Salas and the music chapel of the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. Various in Latin and Spanish. Collection Sacred Music of Cuba, 18th Century, Book VII. Office of the Historian of the City of Havana and University of Valladolid, Spain, 2006.
Esteban Salas, chapel master of the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba (1764-1803), Collection Sacred Music of Cuba, 18th Century, Book VIII. Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, Center for Research and Development of Cuban Music, and University of Valladolid, Spain, 2011.
"Salve Regina... music and Marian worship in Cuba" in journal Opus Habana. Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, Vol. XIV/ No. 2 Feb/Jun. 2012.

Publications
Among her most notable publications are:
the book The Music Archive of the Havana church of La Merced: study and catalog, Casa de las Américas Musicology Award, Cuba, 1997;
eight volumes dedicated to the work of Esteban Salas from the collection Sacred Music of Cuba, 18th Century, published jointly by the University of Valladolid, the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, and the Center for Research and Development of Cuban Music (2001 and 2011);
various articles published in the journal Opus Habana of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, the journal Clave of the Cuban Institute of Music, and;
the Newsletter Music of Casa de las Américas.
She has participated as a collaborator in the publication of five entries of the Dictionary of Spanish and Spanish American Music by the General Society of Authors and Publishers of Spain (SGAE).

Awards
Casa de las Américas Musicology Award in 1997 for her essay: The music archive of the Havana church of La Merced. Study and catalog. Contributing to the history of music works by composers of whom only historical references existed, as well as other names and completely unknown scores, which made it possible to increase the repertoire of sacred music in Cuba.
Annual Research Award 2010 granted by the Cuban Academy of Sciences
Award from the Cuban Academy of Language 2013