Nilo Rodríguez (1921-1997)

Cuba | Composer, professor

Photo: Nilo Rodríguez

Rodríguez

BIOGRAPHY

A composer and professor, Nilo Rodríguez Suárez was a strong advocate for Cuban music. Born in Jagüey Grande, Cuba, he began his musical studies at the Conservatorio Municipal in Havana in 1941 with José Ardévol. Rodríguez held several teaching positions at several universities in Cuba, including the Universidad Masónica José Martí. Rodríguez was actively involved in music printing and preservation, as he organized the record library for Casa de las Americas and worked as a music printing specialist for the Imprenta Nacional de Cuba. He served as director for several prominent conservatories and universities in Cuba, including the Conservatorio de Música Alejandro García Caturla, the Escuela de Música de la Escuela Nacional de Arte, and the Universidad Masónica José Martí. He founded the Sociedad Cultural Nuestro Tiempo and served as vice president between 1951 and 1961. In 1988, he was named the National Editor for Cuba for the Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales (EGREM). As a composer, he won the Premio Nacional de Música in 1951 and 1952 for the compositions Quinteto no. 1 and El son entero. His works were highly nationalistic in their musical content, as he emphasized Cuban rhythms and experimented with the relationship between music and language. His most notable compositions were his cantatas, which were grand in scale and required extensive performing forces of over 250 performers. Notable examples of his cantatas include Elegía y canto por José Martí (1952), Cantata por la paz (1953), and Cantata Lenin (1970).