The seventh edition of the César Portillo de la Luz Singing Contest will take place in Cuba on May 4 and 5 in homage to that famous universal composer, organizers of the event announced in Havana.
The director of the Academia de Canto Mariana de Gonitch, Hugo Oslé, recalled in a press conference the importance of the creator of Contigo in the distance; You, my delirium and Son al son, just to mention three works of a great repertoire that has been heard beyond the seas.
Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Caetano Veloso, Luis Miguel and Cristina Aguilera are some of the interpreters who have defended the lyrics of a Cuban who advocated the dramaturgy of the song and went down in history as one of the founders of the feeling together with José Antonio Méndez.
Both pieces will be sung during the contest, as well as Marta Valdés, Ñico Rojas, Pablo Milanés, Juan Formell and Bola de Nieve, among others.
The jury will be composed by Cuban poet Nancy Morejón, Cuba’s National Literature Prize 2001, writer Sigfredo Ariel, singers Miguel Ángel Céspedes, Teresa García Caturla, Johana Simón and the Italian Lucía Artieri, among several artists.
The seventh edition of the contest will take place at the Pico Blanco cabaret of the Hotel Saint John’s, with open access to the public, and the highest award will be the César Portillo de la Luz Grand Prize.
About the distinguished composer, Morejón remembered his facet as a reader and described him as a great defender of Cuban music and a man of vast culture with whom one could talk about any topic.
The contestants will be young professionals and amateurs, and on the day of the award, some jury figures will take the stage to share singing demonstrations and pay tribute to the 500th anniversary of the founding of this capital city. (Taken from Prensa Latina)
