# Cuban pianist and pedagogue Pura Ortiz Arteaga dies in Havana

**Date:** 07/19/2023

Cuban pianist and pedagogue Pura Ortiz Arteaga passed away on the afternoon of Monday, July 17 at the age of 88, according to information provided by the Cuban Institute of Music (ICM).

Born in Havana on March 3, 1935, Ortiz began her career as a solo pianist and repertoire pianist for Channel 2 of Cuban television, where she shared and learned from maestro Ernesto Lecuona.

In 1962 she joined the National Symphony Orchestra, with which she performed as a soloist in 1965. She also was part of the Havana Trio (1964-1979) and the Instrumental Ensemble Nuestro Tiempo (1971-1990). She was a founder of the National Choir of Cuba.

Between 1992 and 1995 she worked with the Córdova Symphony Orchestra, Spain, with which she performed in operatic productions such as La Bóheme, Tosca and Don Pasquale, as well as the zarzuela Cecilia Valdés.

As a solo pianist she distinguished herself in the interpretation of Cuban composers Manuel Saumell, Ignacio Cervantes, Amadeo Roldán and Alejandro García Caturla, and Spanish music composed by Joaquín Turina, Manuel de Falla, Granados and Isaac Albéniz.

Her pedagogical work was carried out fundamentally at the "Amadeo Roldán" Conservatory, the National School of Music and the Higher Institute of Art.

She was a pianist for the National Lyric Theater, the National Symphony Orchestra, and for the voice class of professor Lucy Provedo, in the Music Faculty of the Higher Institute of Art.

Upon her death she held the Distinction for Cuban Culture and the Alejo Carpentier Medal.