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.

Early years and education

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 attended Carlos Alfredo Peyrellade Conservatory, where she earned a B.A. in 1963, and the Alejandro García Caturla Conservatory, where she studied piano with

Zenaida Manfugás Zenaida Elvira González Manfugás (February 22, 1922 - May 2, 2012) was a Cuban-born American-naturalized pianist, considered to be one of the best Cuban pianists in history.

. Leon was one of an estimated 300,000 Cubans who left Cuba as a refugee on the so-called " Freedom Flights". In the spring of 1967 she left Cuba and settled in New York City, continuing her studies at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

under the tutelage of Ursula Mamlok (B.S., 1971; M.S., 1975).

Career

In 1969, León became a founding member and the first musical director of Arthur Mitchell's Dance Theater of Harlem, establishing its music department, music school, and orchestra. Her ballet compositions for that company include ''Haiku'' (1973), ''Dougla'' (with

Geoffrey Holder Geoffrey Lamont Holder (August 1, 1930 – October 5, 2014) was a Trinidadian-American actor, dancer, musician, director, choreographer, and artist. He was a principal dancer for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, before his film career began in 19 ...

, 1974) and ''Belé'' (with Geoffrey Holder; 1981). She instituted the Brooklyn Philharmonic Community Concert Series in 1977 and in 1994 co-founded the American Composers Orchestra Sonidos de las Americas Festivals as

Latin American Music The music of Latin America refers to music originating from Latin America, namely the Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese-speaking regions of the Americas south of the United States. Latin American music highly incorpor ...

Advisor. From 1993 to 1997, she was New Music Advisor to

Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (; 18 July 192719 December 2015) was a German Conducting, conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewand ...

and the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...

. She also served as Latin American Music Advisor to the

American Composers Orchestra The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) is an American orchestra administratively based in New York City, specialising in contemporary American music. The ACO gives concerts at various concert venues in New York City, including: * Zankel Hall at ...

until 2001. In March 2001 her orchestral work ''Desde...'' was premiered by the American Composers Orchestra at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

. She has been a guest conductor with the Beethovenhalle Orchestra,

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

; the Gewandhausorchester,

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

; the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Rome; the National Symphony Orchestra of South Africa, Johannesburg; the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the Netherlands; and the New York Philharmonic, among others. León's opera '' Scourge of Hyacinths'', based on a radio play by

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

-winner

Wole Soyinka Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...

, was commissioned in 1994 by the

Munich Biennale The Munich Biennale () is a contemporary opera and music theatre festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is ''Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater'', literally: International Festival for New Music Theater. The biennial f ...

, where it won the

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Prize as best new

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

. Staged and designed by Robert Wilson with León conducting, it has received over 22 performances in Germany, Switzerland, France and Mexico. The aria " Oh Yemanja" from ''Scourge'' was recorded by

Dawn Upshaw Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960) is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contempo ...

on her Nonesuch CD ''The World So Wide''. León's composition ''Horizons'', written for the

NDR Symphony Orchestra The NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra () is a German radio orchestra. Affiliated with the ''Norddeutscher Rundfunk'' (NDR; North German Broadcasting), the orchestra is based at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany. Earlier the ensemble was call ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, premiered at the July 1999 Hammoniale Festival, with Peter Ruzicka conducting. In August 2000, ''Horizons'' had its U.S. premiere at the

Tanglewood Music Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, c ...

, with Stefan Asbury conducting. León conducted the work with the Orchestre Symphonique de Nancy (France) in March 2002. ''Drummin, a full-length cross-cultural work for indigenous

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

s and orchestra, was commissioned and premiered in 1997 by Miami Light Project and the

New World Symphony Orchestra The New World Symphony is an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida. Established in 1987, the organization is a training ensemble for young musicians in preparation for professional careers in classical music. Since 2011, the ...

. It opened the 1999 Hammoniale Festival in Hamburg. In February 2020, the

performed the world premiere of her composition '' Stride'' for orchestra. León's recorded works include ''Batá'', by the Foundation Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by David Snell and produced by Sir

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

; ''Indígena'', a collection of León's chamber music; ''Carabalí'' (and already ''Batá'') on the Louisville Orchestra’s First Edition Records; ''Rituál'', for solo piano, and her arrangement of Moises Simons' song "

El Manisero "El manisero", known in English as "The Peanut Vendor", is a Cuban son-pregón (street vendor's cry) composed by Moisés Simons. The song has been recorded more than 200 times,Listed in Díaz Ayala, Cristóbal 1988. ''Si te quieres por el pico div ...

" for Chanticleer. Tania León used award-winning Cuban-American poet

Carlos Pintado Carlos Pintado (born 1974 in Cuba) is a Cuban–American writer, playwright and award-winning poet who immigrated to the United States in the early 90s. He received the prestigious 2014 Paz Prize for Poetry for his book '' Nine coins/Nueve Moned ...

’s poems to create Rimas 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 the San Francisco Girls Chorus.

Awards, honors and recognition

In 1998, León was awarded the New York Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award. She has received

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

s from

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

, and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and awards from the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

, the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, Chamber Music America, NYSCA, the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fund,

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

, the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, and Meet the Composer, among others. In 1998, she held the Fromm Residency at the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

. León has also been a resident at

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

(supported by a MacArthur Foundation Award), and at the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

’s Bellagio Center in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. She has also been a Visiting Lecturer at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, Visiting Professor at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and the Musikschule in

. In 2000, she was named the Tow Distinguished Professor at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, where she has taught since 1985.

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

is one of the senior colleges of the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

(CUNY), where she is also on the faculty of the

CUNY Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...

, in Manhattan. León has been the subject of profiles on ABC,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

and independent films. In 2010, her work was performed in Cuba for the first time at the second annual

Leo Brouwer Juan Leovigildo Brouwer Mezquida (born March 1, 1939) is a Cubans, Cuban composer, conducting, conductor, and classical guitarist. He is a Member of Honour of the International Music Council. Early years Brouwer was born in Havana, Cuba. When he ...

Festival of Chamber Music. In 2010 and 2012, she was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. She is the only Cuban and

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( or ) are Americans who immigrated from or are descended from immigrants from Cuba. As of 2023, Cuban Americans were the fourth largest Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic and Latino American group in the United States aft ...

musician ever to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition (2013). She won the 2021

Pulitzer Prize for Music The Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of seven Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually in Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first given in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year, and this was eventually converted i ...

for '' Stride'', making her the first African-American woman composer to win the award.Katori Hall, Darnella Fraizer Among 2021 Pulitzer Winners – Variety
/ref> In 2022, Tania was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor along with

George Clooney George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and philanthropist. Known for his leading man roles on screen in both blockbuster and independent films, Clooney has received numerous accolades, including two Ac ...

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She began her music career in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the mid-1980s. Grant has been referred to as "Honorific ...

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins Will ...

and the members of U2.

Works

Chamber works

*''A la Par'', piano and percussion *''Ácana'', chamber orchestra *''Alma'', flute and piano *''Ascend'', brass ensemble *''Axon,'' violin and electronics *''Bele'', chamber orchestra *''De Color'', violin and marimba *''De Memorias'', woodwind quintet *''Dougla'', large mixed ensemble *''Drummin , chamber orchestra *''entre nos'', clarinet, bassoon, piano *''Escencia'', string quartet *''Ethos'', piano and string quartet *''Four Pieces for Cello'', violoncello solo *''Haiku,'' percussion ensemble, large mixed ensemble *''Hechizos'', chamber orchestra *''Indigena,'' large mixed ensemble *''Maggie Magalita,'' large mixed ensemble *''Paisanos Semos!'', guitar solo *''Parajota Delate'', mixed quintet *''Permutation Seven'', mixed sextet *''Pet's Suite'', flute and keyboard *''Saoko'', brass quintet *''sin normas ajenas'', large mixed ensemble *''Son Sonora'', flute and guitar *''The Beloved'', large mixed ensemble *''The Golden Windows'', large mixed ensemble *''Tones'', chamber orchestra *''Toque'', clarinet, alto sax, piano, percussionists, violin, and double bass

Orchestral works

*''Bata'' *''Carabali'' *''Concerto Criollo'', piano, solo timpani and orchestra *''Desde...'' *''Horizons'' *''Kabiosile'', piano and orchestra *''Para Viola y Orquesta'', solo viola and orchestra *'' Stride'' (2019) for orchestra

Vocal works

*''Batey'', vocal ensemble and instrumental ensemble *''De-Orishas'', vocal ensemble (6 to 12 singers) *''Drume Negrita,'' mixed chorus *''El Manisero'', mixed chorus *''Inura'', mixed choir, strings, and percussion *''Ivo, Ivo'', high voice and ensemble *''Journey'', high voice and ensemble *''Oh Yemanja (Mother's Prayer)'', medium voice and ensemble *''Pueblo Mulato'', high voice and ensemble *''Reflections,'' soprano and mixed ensemble (text from poems by Rita Dove) *''Rezos'', mixed choir (text from Jamaica Kincaid) *''Singin' Sepia'', medium voice and ensemble (text from poems by Rita Dove) *''Sol de Doce'', vocal ensemble (6 to 12 singers), *''To and Fro,'' medium voice

Solo piano

*''2 Preludes'' (1966) *''Momentum'' (1984) *''Rituál'' (1987) *''Mística'' (2003) *''Variación'' (2004) *''La Tina'' (2004) *''Tumbao'' (2005) *''Para Noah'' (2006) *''Homenatge'' (2011) *''going...gone'' (2012)

Concert Band

*''Alegre (2003)''

Opera

*''Scourge of Hyacinths''

Films

*1993 – ''The Sensual Nature of Sound: 4 Composers – Laurie Anderson, Tania León, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros''. Directed by Michael Blackwood.

References

External links

Tania LeónPeermusic Classical: Tania Leon
Composer's Publisher and Bio
DiscographyBrooklyn College Conservatory of Music

at AfriClassical.com

Interviews

* * * *The unplanned, unstoppable career of composer Tania León. Interviewed by Tom Huizenga, December 2, 2022. ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Tania 1943 births Living people 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers 20th-century conductors (music) 21st-century conductors (music) 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers Harvard University staff Cuban classical composers Cuban opera composers Brooklyn College faculty Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni American women in electronic music Cuban women conductors (music) American women conductors (music) Cuban women classical composers Women opera composers Cuban conductors (music) Women in Latin music Pulitzer Prize for Music winners Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Kennedy Center honorees CUNY Graduate Center faculty Cuban people of French descent Cuban people of Spanish descent Cuban people of Chinese descent Cuban people of African descent