Guido López-Gavilán

Guido López-Gavilán (b. 3 January 1944, Matanzas, Cuba) is a Cuban musician, composer, arranger and conductor.

He began his musical studies at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory in Havana, graduating from choral conducting with maestro Manuel Ochoa in 1966. He conducted Orchestral Conducting studies with maestro Daniil Tiulin, of orchestration, counterpoint, piano and musical analysis with José teachers Ardévol, Leo Brouwer, Esther Ferrer, Harold Gramatges and Edgardo Martín. He subsequently obtained a scholarship to study at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Professor Leo Guinsburg, graduating from Orchestral Conduction in 1973.

López-Gavilán has received awards in the most important composition competitions held in Cuba, and as a conductor has achieved extraordinary success and received recognition from international critics for outstanding performances in Latin America and Europe. He has also been invited as a guest speaker to many important festivals and musical events at various prestigious universities. In 2005 he was awarded the UNESCO Medal in Chile. He has also made an outstanding contribution to the development of the Cuban Youth Orchestra Movement, is the President of the Havana Festival and Chairman of the Orchestral Conducting Department at the Instituto Superior de Arte. He is a founding member of the Colegio de Compositores Latinoamericanos de Música de Arte.

López-Gavilán was commissioned to write “Mojito con saoco”, an overture for full orchestra, by the Cuban American Youth Orchestra thanks to a commission from the Paulus Fund of the American Composers Forum. A gift from CAYO to the city of Havana in honor of its 500 anniversary, “Mojito con saoco” was premiered in Matanzas and at Havana’s Cubadisco Festival in May 2019 and saw its US premiere in Minneapolis, MN with the Minnesota Youth Symphony in November of the same year.