Tania León | |
|---|---|
_-_Honorees_at_the_2022_Kennedy_Center_Honors_Dinner_(52542377419)_(cropped).jpg) Tania León, a 2022 Kennedy Center Honoree | |
| Born | (1943-05-14)May 14, 1943 (age 81) Havana, Cuba |
| Nationality | Cuban-American |
| Occupation | Composer / conductor |
| Awards | 2021Pulitzer Prize for Music New York Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award 2022 Kennedy Center Honoree |
| Website | http://www.tanialeon.com/ |
Tania León (born May 14, 1943) is a Cuban-born American composer of both large scale and chamber works. She is also renowned as a conductor, educator, and advisor to arts organizations.
She was born Tania Justina León in Havana, Cuba, of mixed French, Spanish, Chinese, African, and Cuban heritage. It was her grandmother who recognized that her granddaughter liked music because of the way she reacted to music on the radio. She began studying the piano at the age of four and she attendedCarlos Alfredo Peyrellade Conservatory, where she earned a B.A. in 1963, and the Alejandro García Caturla Conservatory, where she studied piano withZenaida Manfugás. Leon was one of an estimated 300,000 Cubans who left Cuba as a refugee on the so-called "Freedom Flights".[1] In the spring of 1967 she left Cuba and settled in New York City, continuing her studies atNew York University under the tutelage ofUrsula Mamlok (B.S., 1971; M.S., 1975).[2]
In 1969, León became a founding member and the first musical director ofArthur Mitchell'sDance Theater of Harlem, establishing its music department, music school, and orchestra.[3][4] Her ballet compositions for that company includeHaiku (1973),Dougla (withGeoffrey Holder, 1974) andBelé (with Geoffrey Holder; 1981).
She instituted theBrooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series in 1977 and in 1994 co-founded the American Composers Orchestra Sonidos de las Americas Festivals asLatin American Music Advisor. From 1993 to 1997, she was New Music Advisor toKurt Masur and theNew York Philharmonic. She also served as Latin American Music Advisor to theAmerican Composers Orchestra until 2001.[3] In March 2001 her orchestral workDesde... was premiered by the American Composers Orchestra atCarnegie Hall.
She has been a guest conductor with theBeethovenhalle Orchestra,Bonn; theGewandhausorchester,Leipzig; the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Rome; theNational Symphony Orchestra of South Africa, Johannesburg; theNetherlands Wind Ensemble, the Netherlands; and the New York Philharmonic, among others.
León's operaScourge of Hyacinths, based on a radio play byNobel Prize-winnerWole Soyinka, was commissioned in 1994 by theMunich Biennale, where it won theBMW Prize as best newopera. Staged and designed byRobert Wilson with León conducting, it has received over 22 performances in Germany, Switzerland, France and Mexico. The aria "Oh Yemanja" fromScourge was recorded byDawn Upshaw on her Nonesuch CDThe World So Wide.
León's compositionHorizons, written for theNDR Symphony Orchestra ofHamburg, premiered at the July 1999Hammoniale Festival, withPeter Ruzicka conducting. In August 2000,Horizons had its U.S. premiere at theTanglewood Music Festival, withStefan Asbury conducting. León conducted the work with the Orchestre Symphonique de Nancy (France) in March 2002.
Drummin', a full-length cross-cultural work for indigenouspercussionists and orchestra, was commissioned and premiered in 1997 byMiami Light Project and theNew World Symphony Orchestra. It opened the 1999 Hammoniale Festival in Hamburg.
In February 2020, theNew York Philharmonic performed the world premiere of her compositionStride for orchestra.[5]
León's recorded works includeBatá, by the Foundation Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted byDavid Snell and produced by SirGeorge Martin;Indígena, a collection of León's chamber music;Carabalí (and alreadyBatá) on theLouisville Orchestra’s First Edition Records;Rituál, for solo piano, and her arrangement ofMoises Simons' song "El Manisero" forChanticleer.
Tania León used award-winning Cuban-American poetCarlos Pintado’s poems to createRimas Tropicales with a World premiere in June 2011 by one of the world's most respected vocal ensembles: the 5 times Grammy Award-winning group theSan Francisco Girls Chorus.
In 1998, León was awarded the New York Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award. She has receivedhonorary doctorates fromColgate University,Oberlin College, andColumbia University,[6] and awards from theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters, theNational Endowment for the Arts,Chamber Music America,NYSCA, theLila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund,ASCAP, theKoussevitzky Music Foundation, andMeet the Composer, among others.[3] In 1998, she held the Fromm Residency at theAmerican Academy in Rome.[7]
León has also been a resident atYaddo (supported by aMacArthur Foundation Award), and at theRockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center inItaly. She has also been aVisiting Lecturer atHarvard University, Visiting Professor atYale University and the Musikschule inHamburg.
In 2000, she was named the Tow Distinguished Professor at theConservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, where she has taught since 1985.Brooklyn College is one of the senior colleges of theCity University of New York (CUNY), where she is also on the faculty of theCUNY Graduate Center, in Manhattan.
León has been the subject of profiles onABC,CBS,CNN,PBS,Univision and independent films.
In 2010, her work was performed in Cuba for the first time at the second annualLeo Brouwer Festival of Chamber Music.[8] In 2010 and 2012, she was nominated for aLatin Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. She is the only Cuban andCuban-American musician ever to be nominated for aGrammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition (2013).
She won the 2021Pulitzer Prize for Music forStride, making her the first African-American woman composer to win the award.[9]
In 2022, Tania was awarded aKennedy Center Honor along withGeorge Clooney,Amy Grant,Gladys Knight and the members ofU2.[1]
