New Generation of Musicians Continues Concert Band Music Tradition in Cuba

Nearly 200 students graduated from the Javier Vilardell Concert Band School located in the eastern Cuban province of Ciego de Ávila in a ceremony held at the local José Martí Park. With an estimated 117 municipal concert bands across the country, the new generation of Cuban musicians is committed to keeping alive this popular form of Cuban traditional music and promoting culture throughout all Cuban communities

Nearly 200 students graduated from the Javier Vilardell Concert Band School located in the eastern Cuban province of Ciego de Ávila in a ceremony held at the local José Martí Park.

With an estimated 117 municipal concert bands across the country, the new generation of Cuban musicians is committed to keeping alive this popular form of Cuban traditional music and promoting culture throughout all Cuban communities.

Cuban Minister of Culture Abel Prieto congratulated the graduates and urged them to enhance the quality of life in communities by bringing the Cultural Revolution into every corner of the country.

During the graduation ceremony, the graduates performed musical pieces from national and international composers like the Military March by Schubert, El Mambí by Luis Casas Romero, La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, Amor by Pablo Milanés, and ¡Cuba, qué linda es Cuba! by Eduardo Saborit.

Attending the graduation concert were the vice minister of Culture, Abel Acosta; the first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party’s Central Committee in the province of Ciego de Ávila, Jorge Luis Tapia; and the president of the Provincial People’s Power Assembly, José Ignacio Quiñones Venegas.

Also present were personalities of the world of arts in Cuba, including visual arts artist Alexys ‘Kcho’ Leyva Machado and comedian Carlos ‘Mentepollo’ Gonzalvo.