Matanzas Pianist to Receive 2025 Annual Lifetime Achievement Recognition Award Today.

To her professional achievements will be added today the Annual Lifetime Achievement Recognition Award 2025 of the Musicians Association of UNEAC. She will receive it at UNEAC’s Villena Hall in the capital, along with guitarist, composer, arranger and orchestra conductor Rey Montesinos.
From the piano he speaks of his love for the city of Matanzas, of respect for the musical history of Cuba and the world, of professionalism and dedication.
She has dedicated more than five decades to piano playing and artistic teaching from the Athens of Cuba.
Hilda Elvira Santiago Novo, Illustrious Daughter of the city of Yumurina, began her musical training at a very young age thanks to the influence of her aunt, Graciela Santiago. She studied at the Orbón, Alejandro García Caturla and Amadeo Roldán conservatories, under the tutelage of teachers such as Margot Rojas, Zenaida Manfugás, Federico Smith, Roberto Valera, Natalia Harnowka and Leo Brower.
During his vast career as a solo pianist and accompanist of lyric and popular singers, he has been part of groups such as the now defunct Lyric Theater Group, the Siglo XX group -created and directed by the American maestro Federico Smith-, the Matanzas Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra.
It is worth mentioning within her extensive professional career her work as a teacher since the 1960s. As a composer she stands out in the creation of incidental music for the Teatro Guiñol de Matanzas -where she also served as musical advisor-; a cycle of songs on texts by José Martí and Nicolás Guillén; choral works with texts by Gerardo Diego and Federico García Lorca; children’s works for piano, in addition to her professional relationship with other scenic groups in the territory, such as Teatro de Las Estaciones.
She was the creator of the Festival de Jóvenes Músicos and initial member of the Brigada Hermanos Saiz in the province. Cuban and foreign conductors have directed her as a soloist or as part of the orchestral ensemble. She has premiered important works of the piano repertoire on the island.
A graduate of the Instituto Superior de Arte, she has won the most important awards at the Cubadisco International Fair and various national theater festivals. In 2014 the provincial government of Matanzas awarded her the Symbol of the City and she has also won the White Awards for Life’s Work and La bella cubana, given by the provincial committee of UNEAC in Matanzas.
In addition to his professional achievements, which include in a special way the admiration of the people of Matanzas, he will receive today the Annual Recognition Award for Life’s Work 2025 from the Musicians’ Association of UNEAC. She will receive it at UNEAC’s Villena Hall in the capital, together with guitarist, composer, arranger and orchestra conductor Rey Montesinos.
Congratulations, Maestra!
Written by Jessica Mesa