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Guitar player, composer and concert performer and conductor.
Sergio Vitier was born in Havana, on January 18, 1948. He studied guitar at the "Amadeo Roldán" Conservatory and composition at the Higher Institute of Art.
His work includes a wide range of artistic manifestations: Ballet, Dance, Theater, Folklore, Cinema and Television, as well as different orchestral formats. He integrated "Los Armónicos" and the Cuban Modern Music orchestras, as well as the Sound Experimentation Group from ICAIC (Cuban Institute of Art and Filming Industry) and the "Nuestro Tiempo" Group. He was Director of the Contemporary Dance Ensemble and also of the ORU Group.
Researcher of Cuban cultural roots and traditions, Sergio Vitier´s music merges yoruba and congo-bantu elements with the Hispanic sonority, specially regarding the guitar. Likewise, he is a great connoisseur national popular traditions, and a masterful musician in the domain of composition and orchestration contemporary techniques. The fusion of all these elements in his work, turn him in one of the most original, multidisciplinary and innovative Cuban musicians of the last thirty years.
Sergio Vitier is a remarkable personality of Cuban culture. He studied under the guidance of Isaac Nicola, Leo Brouwer, Federico Smith, José Ardévol, José Loyola and Roberto Varela.
As composer, one of his main achievements has been the more than 50 sound tracks made for the Cuban cinema, like: "De cierta manera", 1974; "El Brigadista", 1977; "Maluala", 1979; "Guardafronteras", 1980; "Capablanca", 1986; "Hoy como Ayer", 1987; "Derecho de asilo", 1994; "Quiéreme y verás", 1995; "Tatu, Ché en el Congo", 1997; "CHE", 1998 and "Puerto Príncipe mío", 2000.
As for his musical themes composed for television, it is worthwhile mentioning those made for high-ranked television serials, such as: "En silencio ha tenido que ser", in collaboration with José María Vitier, "Julito el pescador", "Rumbo a la salida del sol" and "El eco de las piedras". His musical work for theater is equally important: Divinas Palabras (Valle Inclán), Mariana y Yerma (García Lorca), El Carillón del Kremlin (Pogodin-Radomislensky) and Manteca (Alberto Pedro - Miriam Lezcano).
During the 1970´s and 1980´s, Sergio Vitier composed some pieces for the Cuban Contemporary Dance Ensemble as well as the famous theme "Ad Libitum" (1978, specially composed for Alicia Alonso and Antonio Gades with choreography by Alberto Méndez). "Desprendimientos", "Poema Sinfónico"; "Cumbres"; "Raíces"; "Acerca de un tema Yoruba"; "Líricas, Ritmos y Canción" are part of Vitier´s work in the sphere of Symphonic and Camera music.
He has recorded together with great Latin American musicians such as: Daniel Viglietti, Isabel Parra, Dahd Sfeir, as well as with Cuban musicians of the stature of Tata Güines, Frank Fernández, Chucho Valdés, Miriam Ramos, José María Vitier, among others. His records together with the ICAIC Sound Experimentation Group are countless.
Due to his music and his cultural promotion work as well, Sergio Vitier has been granted many acknowledgements, among them, the Cuban National Culture Medal.
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