# Famous Cuban pianist Ivette Hernández dies at age 87

**Date:** 06/03/2021

The Cuban Cultural Center of New York announced the death of the prestigious Cuban pianist, Ivette Hernández, at the age of 87.



The internationally renowned classical pianist was born in Guantánamo, and at just 11 years old she performed with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Havana, interpreting Mendelssohn's Capriccio Brilliant, under the direction of Austrian conductor Erich Kleiber.



This performance earned her a scholarship from the Pro-Arte Musical Society that took her to New York for the first time in 1947. Hernández studied with some of the most acclaimed pianists in the world, such as Claudio Arrau, Arthur Rubinstein, Marguerite Long, Sydney Foster, Tomás Andrade de Silva and Sophie Feuerman. In Paris she was a student of Marcel Ciampi.



The artist performed with many of the greatest pianists in the world, such as Claudio Arrau, Tomás Andrade de Silva, Arthur Rubinstein, Sophie Feuerman, among others. She studied with Marcel Ciampi in Paris at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique.



In 1950, British pianist Harriet Cohen awarded her one of three medals for outstanding young women of the year.



After receiving several awards, she returned to Cuba to perform several notable concerts. After a stay on the island, Ivette and her husband, Armando Flores Ibarra, who had been Cuba's ambassador to Czechoslovakia between 1963 and 1965, decided to settle in Spain in 1968.



After three years in Spain, the pianist and her family moved to the United States, where she continued her artistic career and mentoring students.



After a life full of successes in the musical world, she passed away on Wednesday, May 26 in New York. She is survived by her two children and two grandchildren.