Cuban pianist and teacher Karelia Escalante passes away

April 1, 2021

Another significant loss has been registered in Cuban music in recent days: pianist and professor Karelia Escalante. She was in Madrid on a family visit when death surprised her at 81 years of age. Among her students, colleagues, and admirers she left deep and lasting impressions, which form part of a legacy that will continue to enrich the Cuban school of the instrument.

After completing her initial studies at the Municipal Conservatory of Havana, her native city, Karelia obtained a scholarship at the Chaikovski Conservatory in Moscow, where she was among the first Cubans to graduate from such a prestigious institution. In the capital of what was then the Soviet Union, she demonstrated qualities that allowed her to advance to the highest academic level.

In Cuba, starting in 1966, she held a prominent place in the training of new generations of pianists, first at the National School of Art and later at the Higher Institute of Art, where she was part of the founding faculty and served between 1981 and 1984 as dean of the School of Music. Later, for a long period, she extended her teaching work to the Dominican Republic.

In the artistic sphere she stood out for the stylistic fidelity that she brought to each of her interpretations and for paying attention to the work of contemporary Cuban composers, among them Héctor Angulo and Jorge Garciaporrúa, whose scores she premiered.

Particularly memorable was the duo she formed with the notable guitarist Jesús Ortega. There is a 1988 recording, presented by Egrem, in which stands out the grace with which both of them performed the Prelude for Guitar and Harpsichord by Mexican composer Manuel Ponce.

In remembering the master, the also prominent pianist and pedagogue Cecilio Tieles went back to the time when he, as head of the department at the ENA and national adviser for artistic education, had in Karelia "a friend and colleague who gave the best of herself so that the artistic and professional objectives established as foundations in the training of our young artists would be fulfilled; we will always remember her example of modesty, wisdom, and dedication to her students."