Martha Duarte Mustelier

Cuban violinist and singer, born 29 July in Havana, Cuba. She attended the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in the capital, founded by the government in September 1976, graduating as the first woman in the history of the Academy in violin. Later, she made her first job as a professional musician for concert music, as first violin of the Opera and Ballet of the Grand Theater in Havana. In this period she also began her interest in popular music, which led her to frequent a circle of relevant intellectuals and musicians, such as Silvio Rodríguez, Pablo Milanés and Frank Fernández, with whom she recorded various discs for the Cuban record label EGREM (Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales). In the meantime she also composed music for feature films and television series (later she even recorded a theme for the film "Siglo de las Luces", by the famous director Humberto Solás). In 1985 she dedicated herself as a violinist and singer to the rock group "Arte Vivo", with whom she made national and international tours in places ranging from Finland to Nicaragua. In January 1990 she formed her own group with the name of "Vidrio y Corte", developing as a line of work the canción and jazz fusion, a musical style in which jazz, rock and funk elements are combined in a single piece. As always, Martha Duarte was unable to devote herself solely to a single project and therefore performed on various occasions as a soloist with the "Conjunto Folklórico Nacional" (one of the most prestigious companies in Cuba) and recorded music for plays, ballets, short and feature films of the International School of Cinema of Cuba, founded by Gabriel Garcia Márquez near the town of San Antonio de los Baños. In October 1993 the Martha Duarte y Sarabanda project started, a group she created and directed, with whom she recorded a track on the CD "La Isla De La Música", for the Magic Music label and left for a tour made up of both national and international stages. In "Cubadiscos 99" she was awarded the "Adolfo Guzmán" prize (in honor of the great conductor and composer), in recognition of her musical, artistic and professional qualities. Martha Duarte then transcribed the work of the famous Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés, collected work molded into a book entitled "Obras completas de Pablo Milanés", published in May 1999 with the Spanish publisher A.P.A. (Asociación de Productores y Autores). She also boasted collaborations, always in the role of transcriber, with artists of great caliber such as Silvio Rodríguez, Compay Segundo, Nicolás Guillén, Faustino Oramas "El Guayabero", as well as Spanish composers of important international importance, such as Rosana Arbelo, Manolo Tena, Enrique Morente, Joaquín Sabina and Clara Montes. In 2001 the first CD, "Mulata de Espalda", was released, entirely directed, edited and produced by Martha Duarte, again with the collaboration of her orchestra Sarabanda. During the rise of her career, Martha Duarte has also dedicated herself to teaching. She was a teacher of violin at elementary and middle level, she taught courses (master classes) concerning her instrument and, more generally, Cuban music to other musicians and groups of the University of Los Angeles (2003-2004) as well as, more recently, in the popular music section of the Copenhagen Academy (2003-2004). In February and March 2004, she was commissioned to select six Cuban emerging musicians who worked on Danish TV (among the musicians stand out Alexis Bosch (pianist, composer, arranger) and Enrique Plá (drummer of Irakere), just to name a few). This project ended with the recording of "sabor cubano", in which Martha Duarte sang a theme as a soloist. Also in 2004 she became a member of the UNEAC (Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba). In October 2006 she participated together with Sarabanda in the Cultural Gala on the occasion of the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State in Montevideo (Uruguay). In this city the group holds various concerts and participated in various television programs, which leads to considerable recognition by the public and appreciation of the Uruguayan press. Between the end of December 2006 and the beginning of January 2007 they were part of the artistic delegation that exported Cuban culture to perform on the different stages of Venezuela. In March 2009 they hold several concerts during the first week of Cuban culture in the Middle East, specifically in Qatar. Despite the cultural and geographical distance they still managed to achieve considerable success through their musicality. In 2010 Martha Duarte came to Switzerland with her new concert "CUBA". She performed in Lugano at the "Il Cortile" Theater, in Losone, "La Fabbrica" ​​and at the Middle School, during the Locarno Film Festival at the "Paravento Theater", enjoying success on every stage.