Teresita Junco or Teaching Above All

June 14, 2019

The Teaching Legacy of Teresita Junco Remains Intact, Extended Through Her Students and Those Who Today Learn From Them

No one can say that Teresita Junco is simply marking ten years of absence. Rather, it would be more accurate to highlight how her teaching legacy remains intact, extended through the students she trained and those others who today receive classes from them. We are witnessing an uninterrupted and fruitful succession, fertilized by the example and wisdom of those who have fulfilled well the act of dedicating themselves to others.

Those of us who attended the tribute that the Association of Musicians of the Uneac paid to the master felt—experienced—that certainty, when students from Havana conservatories paraded across the piano in the Villena hall to honor her in the best way possible, with Cuban works for the instrument.

There was no shortage of contributions from her illustrious colleague, maestro Frank Fernández, who described her as a pillar of the Cuban school of piano and offered his excellent rendition of Perla marina, by Sindo Garay, one of the professor's favorite pieces.

Nor was there the emotional review by composer and orchestra director Guido López Gavilán, who founded with her a family of musicians—Aldo, also a pianist, and Ilmar, a violinist—extended in our days with two beautiful granddaughters who demonstrated their developing talents when they tackled scores by Alejandro Falcón at the keyboard.

Teresita was, without a doubt, a distinguished interpreter, but her passion for pedagogy left indelible marks. She always sought, and succeeded, in transmitting to each student the technical-expressive apparatus essential to take on any challenge at the instrument, and more than anything, to instill in them the awareness that only through dedication to study and constant revision of the results in each exercise could they aspire to perfection.

As important as this pedagogical perspective was, Teresita instilled in her disciples respect and love for the Cuban repertoire, which she considered rich and inexhaustible.

Founder and tenured professor of the piano chair at the University of the Arts, and for many years dedicated to the intermediate level at the Amadeo Roldán conservatory, where she studied, she came to the instrument from other interests, such as singing and choral direction.

The harvest of teachers is usually seen when reviewing the successful participation of their disciples in international competitions. In her case, these became notable in Italy and Costa Rica, Venezuela and the United States, Spain and our own country, but even more relevant, ultimately, is to verify her legacy in the day-to-day of our classrooms and in the artistic growth of so many Cuban pianists inside and outside the Island.

Dedicated to her memory will be the Musicalia 2019 International Piano Festival and Competition, which will take place in Havana from June 17 to 22.

Contestants from Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba will be evaluated by a jury presided over by Ulises Hernández, current head of the Piano chair at the University of the Arts, and made up of Cienfuegos native Ñico Carbonell, the Cuban based in Mexico, Ninowska Fernández-Britto and the Dutch Henry Kelder.

It would be worth recalling these words from the notable composer Roberto Valera when he bade farewell to the master in 2009: "…I knew you were leaving in grand fashion, accomplished and fulfilled and that you knew it."