Awarded Golden Baton Prize 2020 to Prestigious Cuban Musicians

August 13, 2020

The Batuta Award ceremony, the classical and concert music equivalent of the Grammy, which was to be held at the Teatro Martí on November 11th, is being postponed to April 24, 2021, due to the current COVID-19 situation.

Known as the only award from the Guild to the Guild, it will soon have Cuba's capital as its headquarters, according to Daniel Martín Subiaut, president of the Instituto Latino de la Música (ILM), who has headed the Batuta Award Organization since 2019.

This entity, which has its headquarters in Mexico City, recently shared in a press release that epidemiological conditions have led to postponing the date of the gala that would have taken place at the Teatro Martí this November.

For the first time, since October 2019, the Batuta Award organization will be presided over by a Cuban, maestro Edesio Alejandro, regional delegate for the Caribbean, and will have the collaboration of Cuba's Ministry of Culture.

In this Caribbean edition, the coveted golden batons will be presented in memory of composer Carlos Fariñas and will be received by Cuban maestros such as Frank Fernández, Zenaida Romeu, Enrique Pérez Mesa, Digna Guerra, Guido López-Gavilán, and Ulises Aquino.

Also being honored will be Roberto Valera, Juan Piñera Infante, Alfredo Diez Nieto, Idelfonso Acosta, and Niurka González, with the honors that Leo Brouwer and Edesio Alejandro himself received in 2019.

Recognition plaques for their contribution to classical music will also be presented to the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, the Coro Nacional de Cuba, the Emisora CMBF, the Lyceum Mozartiano, the Universidad de las Artes, the Banda Nacional de Conciertos, the Escuela Nacional de Arte, and the Ballet Nacional de Cuba.

The Batuta Award for Excellence in Classical Music is a recognition from the classical music guild to the excellence of its great masters, and the broadcasters, promoters, patrons, and music lovers of the genre also deserve recognition.

To celebrate the first edition, a gala night was held in honor of the honorees on October 5, 2019, in the Sala de Concierto El Cantoral, the main headquarters of the Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México.