Prominent Musicologist Jesús Gómez Cairo Passes Away

April 28, 2023

This morning, April 28, the prominent Cuban musicologist, researcher, and professor Jesús Evaristo Gómez Cairo passed away in Havana at the age of 73.

Born in Jagüey Grande, Matanzas, in October 1949, he studied piano and musicology at the National School of Art, where he later served as a professor of Musical Appreciation and History of Music.

He completed his professional training at the State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography of Leningrad, Soviet Union.

He also worked at the National Council of Culture and as a professor at the Provincial School of Art in Holguín and at the Higher Institute of Art.

He was director of the Odilio Urfé Center for Musical Information and Documentation and Vice President of the Cuban Institute of Music.

At the time of his death, he served as director of the National Museum of Music, a position he held since 1997.

Among his most significant works are the books The Musical Art of Ernesto Lecuona; Cuban Music: Some Processes, Creations and Paradigmatic Figures and Creation, Realization and Development of La Bayamesa, Hymn of Bayamo, National Hymn of Cuba.

Various articles and essays of his authorship were published in the main Cuban cultural magazines.

At the same time, he developed a tireless effort in promoting and disseminating Cuban music and gave numerous lectures, master classes and courses on music and folklore in universities and schools in Cuba, Germany, Soviet Union, Nicaragua, Mexico, Venezuela, Spain, Italy, Poland, Colombia, United States and Dominican Republic.

A member of UNEAC, Gómez Cairo received the national awards for Music and Cultural Heritage, in recognition of his extensive and distinguished work as a researcher and promoter of Cuban music and his dedication and commitment to the research and preservation of our musical heritage. For these reasons and for his deep commitment to Culture and the Cuban Revolution, he was granted the Distinction for National Culture and the Alejo Carpentier Order.