José María Vitier will take on Havana today

November 14, 2021

A special performance will take place today, Sunday, at the Martí theater, on the occasion of the 502nd anniversary of the capital of all Cubans

In these days the name of the prestigious pianist and composer José María Vitier has been duly promoted both by the national press media and by social networks due to the Havana Concerto, a performance that together with notable guests will take place today, Sunday, at the Martí theater on the occasion of the 502nd anniversary of the capital of all Cubans.

Regarding the accomplished Havana musician, enough has been written to make clear the overflowing creative breadth of his work when covering the most diverse instrumental formats and fusing multiple influences in a personal language that warns us immediately of his presence.

However, little has been said about the lyricism that he delivers to us, nothing more than placing his hands on the piano, one might say. Undoubtedly, the fact of being the son of Cintio Vitier and Fina García-Marruz, essential poets and essayists as well as being the brother of the renowned guitarist Sergio Vitier, consolidates our perspective of being faced with the concrete definition of a poet of music.

Only an artist of such high rank, whose extensive spiritual borders reflect the intensity of the gesture at the moment of discovering the beauty of a melody, is capable of living in the lyricism itself of his work. For example, in listening to pieces such as Habanera del Ángel from the film A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, we are flooded with the subtlety of nuances orchestrated with exquisite tact to reach a climax of moving inner brilliance.

That proven ability of José María Vitier to pour into his creations the sense of emotion in music constitutes a key link on which he relies to season the sensitivity of our souls.

Another piece that confirms the certainty of such a point of view is the well-known theme from the film Strawberry and Chocolate which, as a dramatic musical piece, is shown imbued with values that reveal to us the human condition of its composer. It grants the work a charge of ethical assumptions that appear unfolded far beyond the strictly musical plane.

In that sense, Vitier is among those creators who conceive of art as an inexhaustible source of beauty to exalt the human being. That is why when you find yourselves listening to the music of José María Vitier, let yourselves be carried away by the inspiration of one chosen in this task of convincing through his talent, for the joy of a beautiful melody also figures among the many reasons to live to the fullest.

Among the guests at the concert on this November 14th at the Martí theater stand out the Lyceum Orchestra of Havana and soloists Niurka González, Javier Cantillo and Marcos Madrigal. In the scenography stands out the work of painter and poet Silvia Rodriguez Rivero.

The activities for the birthday of the founding of the Villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana began on November 1st and will extend until the 16th with artistic performances and the reopening of cultural centers.