Background on Ana de la Cuesta


Note: Due to the economic deprivations experienced by most Cubans, Ana has very few pictures of her professional life in Cuba, and what she has are obviously not of the best quality. She treasures them nonetheless.

 
Before the 1990s

A native of Cuba, Ana studied music in Havana at the Alejandro Garcia Caturla Conservatory of Music (guitar and piano), the Ignacio Cervantes Conservatory of Music (flute) and the National Pedagogical Center of Artistic Knowledge (solfeggio and flute). Later, when she was already performing and teaching, she studied privately with the renowned Cuban flutist, Professor Luis Bayard. 

As a flutist, Ana performed classical music in the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra, the National Center of Concert Music (a series of solo concerts), and various small groups. She performed international, popular and Cuban traditional music as a soloist (with piano or guitar accompaniment), in the Orchestra of the Musical Theater of Havana, and in various groups, including two that she helped found: the Juglar Trio (Rennaissance minstrel music; see pictures below and at right) and the Doña Irene Orchestra (playing danzones, Cuban national dance music).


Ana catching her breath during a performance of the Juglar Trio at the National Library, Old Havana, 1985.

Rehearsal of the Electronic Music Group at the University of Havana, 1978. Ana, still a classical guitar student at the Conservatory of Music, played electric guitar with this group for two years.

Ana with the Doña Irene Orchestra in a live TV program called “Meridiano” (at noon), 1979-80. Her main instrument was the tumbas; occasionally she also played second flute.

Emblem of the Juglar Trio, on a sticker still attached to Ana's piccolo case.

Graduation Celebration at the National Fine Arts Museum (Ana at the center of the group), Havana, 1986.


 
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