Tania León, only Latina woman in top 100 living classical music composers

January 24, 2024

Tania León was one of the 22 most programmed women in concerts during 2023, and the only Latina woman included in the list.

The renowned Cuban composer and orchestra conductor residing in the United States Tania León was included in the list of the 100 living authors of contemporary classical music.

The selection, compiled by the British specialized magazine Bachtrack, includes the most programmed composers during 2023.

The Cuban woman was ranked at position 47, being one of the 22 women included. According to the site, among the 200 most performed composers and composers last year, only 10% were female.

The most performed were Sofia Gubaidulina, Caroline Shaw, Unsuk Chin and Anna Clyne -in the top 10- and Kaija Saariaho (who passed away mid-2023), Jesse Montgomery and Anna Thorvaldsdottir are in the top 20.

Bachtrack analyzed 31,309 concerts, operas and dance performances worldwide. Other Latin Americans, the Mexicans Gabriela Ortiz and Arturo Márquez; and the Peruvian Jimmy López Bellido were referenced by the site.

Ortiz ranked 28th, while Márquez was 34th and López Bellido 69th.

Tania León, a multi-awarded Cuban

Tania León received last year the Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize for Musical Composition awarded by the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University.

The prize, which included $100,000 and two years of residency at the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, honors classical music composers of outstanding achievements who have significantly influenced the field of composition.

Born in Havana, she left Cuba in 1967 and settled in New York. There she founded the Harlem Dance Theatre and instituted the community concert series of the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

In 2021 she received the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her piece "Stride". In December 2022, she also received honors from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for her contributions to American culture.