Guitarist, composer and educator Jesús Ortega is the 2022 National Music Prize

December 23, 2022

The 2022 National Music Prize was awarded to renowned guitarist and composer Jesús Ortega at the Cuban Institute of Music (ICM) in the capital, for his extensive trajectory at the national and international level.

The jury was composed of Manolito Simonet, director of the ensemble El Trabuco, instrumentalist German Velazco, Ecuadorian musicologist Marielena Vinueza, 2021 National Music Prize winner José María Vitier, and choral director Digna Guerra, National Music Prize winner 2006.

"We took into account the extraordinary trajectory of the maestro, who throughout his prolific life has contributed in diverse spaces of creation, so that Cuban music has a high degree of recognition; not only in the field of concert music but also with pieces for film production," Vinueza indicated at a press conference.

According to critics, Ortega is one of the pillars of the Cuban guitar school and stands out for works such as Concertante, In Memoriam, Two Poems of Struggle for baritone and Dance of the Naive Adolescent.

The musician holds various decorations and distinctions from different countries in Europe, Latin America and Cuba, including the Doctorate in Arts Honoris Causa from the University of the Arts, the National Prize for Artistic Teaching and the Master of Youth Prize, awarded on the Caribbean island.

The founder and president of the International Guitar Festival has a prolific career as a concert performer and educator, in addition to being a recipient of the Alejo Carpentier Medal (2002) and the Félix Varela Order (2004).

In exclusive statements to Prensa Latina, the president of the ICM, Indira Fajardo, announced that the prize will be presented on December 30th in the Avellaneda hall of the National Theater of Cuba in this city, with a concert by the National Symphony Orchestra, in tribute to the 50th anniversary of the New Song Movement.