{"id":325763,"date":"2025-07-15T18:24:34","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T22:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=325763"},"modified":"2025-07-15T18:24:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T22:24:34","slug":"guido-lopez-gavilan-the-summer-of-a-patriarch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/culture\/music-culture\/guido-lopez-gavilan-the-summer-of-a-patriarch\/","title":{"rendered":"Guido L\u00f3pez-Gavil\u00e1n. The summer of a patriarch"},"content":{"rendered":"

After playing the blackout Russian roulette in a claustrophobically innocent elevator that whisked us up to the tenth floor, Maestro Guido L\u00f3pez-Gavil\u00e1n del Rosario (Matanzas, 1944) agrees, without obvious enthusiasm, to a photo shoot as a prelude.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe faster, the better,\u201d he says calmly once in his apartment, in one of the Vedado towers overlooking the sea. No ships are seen entering or leaving the port\u2014only poachers on their truck tire inner tubes, floating donuts that bring the monotonous seascape to life. Having a picture taken is not in the artist\u2019s comfort zone. Still, his gentlemanly manner drowns out any hint of discomfort, and even a request to fetch a baton for an obliging pose is honored by the octogenarian composer with the alacrity of the solicitous.<\/span><\/p>\n

I break the ice. I ask if it\u2019s overwhelming to be the patriarch of a musical dynasty. \u201cNo, it\u2019s a great pleasure to see that the seed we sowed continues in the art of music. The family grows, and that makes me very happy,\u201d he replies, then stares fixedly into the camera, sprawled on the colonial-style sofa.<\/span><\/p>\n

Behind him hang his watercolors and figurative crayons; his Ingres violin when he\u2019s not writing music on the computer.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s dedicated this summer to finishing <\/span>Sue\u00f1os de sirenas, <\/span><\/i>inspired<\/span>\u00a0by <\/span>Sir\u00e8nes<\/span><\/i>, the third movement of Claude Debussy\u2019s symphonic triptych <\/span>Nocturnes<\/span><\/i>. The piece is written for female choir and strings, in the style of the French composer, and is scheduled to premiere in November at Casa de las Am\u00e9ricas.<\/span><\/p>\n

A musical Noah\u2019s Ark<\/b><\/h3>\n

The dynastic aspect is not an exaggeration. Even less so is the patriarchal aspect. The family network begins with Evelio L\u00f3pez-Gavil\u00e1n, founder and director of a Cuban and Latin American music ensemble in Havana. His wife, Nela del Rosario, a television host and graduate of the Municipal Conservatory of Havana, provides a musical and cultural foundation for the lineage.<\/span><\/p>\n

From that marriage were born two brothers: Evelio, known as Buby to his close friends. A hydraulic engineer, he was a music lover, but \u201cdidn\u2019t like making music.\u201d He died in the prime of life: 29 years old. And Guido, musician, composer, and conductor, winner of the 2015 National Music Prize.<\/span><\/p>\n

He studied at the Amadeo Rold\u00e1n Conservatory in Havana and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. He founded the University of the Arts of Cuba (ISA) and directed its conducting department for more than two decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

The composer of the symphony <\/span>Post-Neo-Retro<\/span><\/i> (2020) is a leading figure in the genealogical galaxy, both for the weight of his oeuvre, as vast as it is diverse, and for his teaching work, having trained generations of musicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guido married pianist and pedagogue Teresita Junco (1946-2009), daughter of clarinetist and pedagogue Juan Jorge Junco. From this union were born two musician sons: Ilmar L\u00f3pez-Gavil\u00e1n, a violinist par excellence who emigrated and developed an international career that included conducting the Harlem Quartet and winning a Grammy in 2012; and Aldo L\u00f3pez-Gavil\u00e1n, a pianist and composer renowned for his virtuosity and versatility in classical and jazz music, who studied at conservatories in Havana and the London Academy of Music. Aldo has composed orchestral works and has developed a unique career in Cuba and abroad.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aldo, in turn, married the conductor and teacher Daiana Garc\u00eda, a distinguished student of Guido\u2019s. The couple has twin daughters, Adriana and Andrea L\u00f3pez-Gavil\u00e1n Garc\u00eda, who study various instruments (piano, guitar, flute, electric bass, and saxophone), continuing the family tradition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ilmar is married to cellist Seoying Yang, with whom he has two children, Leah (pianist) and Ian (violist).<\/span><\/p>\n

The family also extends to the Garc\u00eda branch, with Josu\u00e9 Garc\u00eda (Daiana\u2019s brother), a music producer, married to singer Rochy Ameneiro. Their son, <\/span>Rodrigo Garc\u00eda Ameneiro<\/b><\/a>, a pianist and student of Aldo\u2019s, is married to violinist Tania Hasse; together they form the Espiral Duo.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, clarinetist and saxophonist Alejandro Calzadilla Garc\u00eda, a student of Teresita\u2019s brother, Arnoldo Junco, and Daiana\u2019s nephew, married dancer Yuy\u00fa Vega, whose eldest son, Ronny Yunior, is studying piano.<\/span><\/p>\n

If another flood were to come, the fruits of this family tree would be enough to save music from extinction, cradled in a family Noah\u2019s Ark.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A musical dynasty. Photo: Adri\u00e1n Juan Espinosa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Memories<\/b><\/h3>\n

What was the first instrument you picked up?<\/b><\/p>\n

The first instrument was the guitar, and also the piano, because my parents were musicians. My mother was a piano teacher and television host, and my father was a musician, playing the guitar from a young age.<\/span><\/p>\n

From a very young age, I remember my father rehearsing at home with trios and quartets. My mother studied piano, and both of them encouraged me to play. I liked music and started studying the guitar with my father.<\/span><\/p>\n

How old were you when you started playing?<\/b><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember exactly, but I must have been around 7 or 8.<\/span><\/p>\n

Was it in Matanzas or already in Havana?<\/b><\/p>\n

In Havana. I was born in Matanzas because my family is from there, but we were already living in Havana when I was born. My mother went to Matanzas to be with my grandmother during the birth.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve lived in Havana the whole time, but I\u2019ve always had a close connection to Matanzas because the rest of my family remained there. We went there every weekend, and I spent the holidays at my grandmother\u2019s house. Later, I conducted the Matanzas Symphony Orchestra for a few years, sharing the same time with Havana.<\/span><\/p>\n

Matanzas is a city very dear to me, as is Havana.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Maestro Guido L\u00f3pez Gavil\u00e1n del Rosario graduated in Havana as an orchestral conductor under Soviet pedagogy. Photo: AMD.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The violin<\/b><\/h3>\n

What was your initial musical training like?<\/b><\/p>\n

I began studying music at home with my parents. Then, as a young man, I entered the Amadeo Rold\u00e1n Conservatory to study violin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why did you choose the violin?<\/b><\/p>\n

I liked the instrument, its timbre, and the way it sounded. I decided on the violin, although at that time, music wasn\u2019t studied professionally from the beginning as it is now, but rather was more of a vocation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although my parents taught me music, they never encouraged me to become a professional musician; they thought I would be an engineer or architect because I liked math and drawing. They rightly thought that music was a very difficult field to break into before the Revolution.<\/span><\/p>\n

What finally led you to pursue music professionally?<\/b><\/p>\n

As a young man, I decided I really liked music and, after the Revolution, the possibility of making a living as a musician opened up. That was around 1962, after the literacy campaign. I was in the Sierra Maestra as a volunteer teacher between 1960 and 1962. During that time, I had to abandon my musical studies, but then I fully immersed myself in the world of music.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Panoramic view of Havana\u2019s seafront from Guido L\u00f3pez-Gavil\u00e1n\u2019s living room, on the tenth floor of a Vedado tower. The musician confesses that the sea inspires him. Photo: AMD.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Choral music and Isaac Nicola<\/b><\/h3>\n

According to your biography, you graduated with a degree in choral conducting at the age of 22. Was it a choice you made, or was it your own doing?<\/b><\/p>\n

It was a choice. At the Conservatory, there was a choir directed by Manuel Ochoa, which I really liked. From the moment I began singing in a choir, I was drawn to the possibility of performing large collective works and popular songs together. Ochoa started the first choral school in Cuba, where I studied choral conducting and training to become a choral singer.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the choral school opened, I enrolled in choral conducting, although I continued studying violin (at that time, it was possible to study several subjects at once). Isaac Nicola, director of the Conservatory, was very supportive and helped me organize a special curriculum that included violin, choral conducting, and complementary subjects such as harmony, counterpoint, music history, analysis of musical forms, and orchestration.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do you remember that time at the Conservatory?<\/b><\/p>\n

It was a very beautiful time, of which I have fond memories. I made great friends with colleagues like Digna Guerra, Frank Fern\u00e1ndez, Teresita Junco (who was my wife), Carmen Collado, Gonzalo Romeu and Ninowska Fern\u00e1ndez-Brito.<\/span><\/p>\n

A very talented generation…<\/b><\/p>\n

It was a rather special generation, with great potential for musical development. Initiatives for young people were created, such as the Hermanos Sa\u00edz Brigade, which allowed us to organize our own activities and encourage the development of young composers and instrumentalists.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLos Chichirichis\u201d<\/b><\/h3>\n

Did you have your own musical group?<\/b><\/p>\n

Yes, we had a vocal quartet, although we did it as a hobby. We sang in nightclubs, and it was Teresita, Digna, Frank, and me. We sang newly released songs by [C\u00e9sar] Portillo de la Luz, Jos\u00e9 Antonio M\u00e9ndez, from the feeling era.<\/span><\/p>\n

What instruments did you play and what was your role in the quartet?<\/b><\/p>\n

I played the violin, the piano (as a complementary instrument, although I was never a pianist), the guitar and, in the quartet, I sang and played guitar at times.<\/span><\/p>\n

And did you go by any name?<\/b><\/p>\n

We called ourselves \u201cLos Chichirichis,\u201d although it was an informal name [laughs].<\/span><\/p>\n

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During a concert in his youth as an orchestral conductor. Photo taken from the book \u201cLa direcci\u00f3n orquesta sinf\u00f3nica y su expresi\u00f3n en Cuba.\u201d Aurelia Ediciones publishers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From \u201cLos Chichirichis\u201d to Beethoven<\/b><\/h3>\n

Despite being under siege, under political and military stress, in the 1960s, Cuba still retained the inertial bohemian vibe of the 1950s, especially in Havana. While Guido enjoyed the festive atmosphere and seductive nightlife, he expanded his portfolio of choral works.<\/span><\/p>\n

His famous piece <\/span>El Guayaboso<\/span><\/i> (1967) is from this period, but a few years earlier, in 1964, he composed the works <\/span>Si compartimos\u00a0<\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Nubes<\/span><\/i>, both for female and children\u2019s choirs. At the same time, his interest in the musicality of Garc\u00eda Lorca\u2019s poetry led him to compose <\/span>Canci\u00f3n cantada<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Media Luna<\/span><\/i>, both from 1965, written for voice and piano and premiered in the Cuban capital in 1968.<\/span><\/p>\n

The following decade saw the appearance of <\/span>Sinfon\u00eda urbana <\/span><\/i>(1975) for mixed choir, narrator and instrumental ensemble; <\/span>De c\u00e1mara traigo un son<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(1977) for string orchestra, and <\/span>Tramas<\/span><\/i> (1979), premiered in 1981.<\/span><\/p>\n

The crowning achievement of that era was the performance, for the first time during the socialist period, of Beethoven\u2019s <\/span>Ninth Symphony<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite an event in 1979. I conducted the orchestra and Digna organized the choir, which was mixed, with more than a hundred people, including established choirs and people who wanted to learn. It was a very beautiful social project. And the singing was in German.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n