Manuel Duchesne Cuzán: a Sinfonietta in his memory

December 6, 2020

Manuel Duchesne Cuzán (1932-2005) was a visionary in diverse directions. One of them was orchestral conducting, without a doubt. But he did not become a conductor in a stiff manner or without knowing the secrets of the most guarded podium, quite the opposite. His work in so-called academic music and in popular orchestras as a violinist and trumpeter made him a thorough expert in our own musical culture, as well as in others as complex as jazz, while also broadening his cognitive universe around all types of music.

Duchesne turned to ballet early on in the 1950s and accomplished extraordinary work as a conductor which seasoned him in those endeavors: conducting live and for ballet is no trivial task. His contact with Igor Markévich in Mexico is well known, and his commitment from that moment on to symphonism and orchestral conducting, which opened for him an imaginative range of creative and expressive possibilities. He assumed various positions as conductor before 1959, and when the National Symphonic Orchestra was founded, he quickly joined it alongside who had been his former teacher, Enrique González Mántici, who served as Principal Conductor of the young OSN, heir to the old Philharmonic Orchestra of Havana. Duchesne would assume, after Mántici's death, the position of Principal Conductor for more than 30 years.

Something we must highlight is the creation in the 1970s of a new way of approaching musical avant-garde for chamber orchestra: the Instrumental Ensemble Nuestro Tiempo. With it—and made up of the most important musicians from the OSN—Duchesne would recreate a known repertoire, but at the same time would have the capacity and historical lucidity to premiere and introduce to Cuba the work of avant-garde composers, some from the socialist bloc at that time and others that did not come from it but were considered essential in those years.

The birth today of the Sinfonietta Duchesne Cuzán, heir to the esteemed chamber and investigative work of the beloved and unforgettable maestro, has its genesis in Nuestro Tiempo obviously, but has been—and it must be emphasized—the work and fruit of his students and colleagues of so many years, some fortunately still active. Today we pay homage to the talent and tenacity of an essential and irreplaceable man, whom I knew and learned from his own testimony how he and many technicians, musicians and dancers including the very Prima Ballerina Assoluta Alicia Alonso saved musical scores from that voracious fire on June 30, 1977 that destroyed the Teatro Amadeo Roldán.

The new orchestra that from today on will bear his name will be a perpetual homage to his work, and will continue to defend a musical concept conceived by Duchesne: to endorse and make visible the best Cuban and universal chamber repertoire.