Carlos Molina (guitarist)

Carlos Molina (born 1946 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban guitarist and professor.

Carlos Molina is an acclaimed Cuban guitarist, lauded as founder of the Cuban Guitar School. He studied music at Hubert de Blanck Conservatory and the Amadeo Roldán National Conservatory in Havana, Cuba. He was a disciple of Isaac Nicola and graduated in 1969, from both the National Conservatory and from the Law School at the Havana University. At a later time, Molina continued his professional training as a classical guitarist with Abel Carlevaro, Alirio Díaz, and Alberto Ponce.

In 1970, closely following his graduation, Carlos Molina won the First Prize at the National Guitar Competition and subsequently went on a concert tour through several European cities. Since then, he has performed in more than twenty countries, at such prestigious venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Metropolitan Opera House in NewYork city, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Major Hall, the Dvorak Hall of Prague, the Ateneo of Madrid, the Chopin Hall of Warsaw, the Zeneakademia of Budapest, the Hall of Mirrors at the Palatial Palace in Bratislava, the Salle du Conservatoire d’Orleans, the Sala Carlos Chávez in Mexico and the Teatro Amadeo Roldán in Cuba, among many others. For two years, Molina toured worldwide as solo guitarist of principal ballerina Alicia Alonso and the Cuban National Ballet.

Molina has frequently shared the stage with famous guitarists such as Leo Brouwer, Turibio Santos, Alirio Díaz, Benjamin Verdery, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, and Nikita Koshkin. He has also participated in international guitar festivals at Pescara, Potenza, Brno, Rust, Córdoba, Hondarribia, Vélez-Málaga, Aranda del Duero, Linares, Coria, Bordeaux, Limousin, Vendôme, Esztergom, Rotenburg, Bratislava, Stockholm and Fribourg. Carlos Molina has premiered many pieces dedicated to him. In 1968, Cuban famous composer and guitarist Leo Brouwer created at his request “Canticum,” a composition in which he included avant-garde techniques never used before in the guitar repertoire. A list of composers that have dedicated pieces to Molina include the Russian Nikita Koshkin (guitar duo Return of the Winds – 2002) as well as Olivier Chassain, Gerard Drozd, Roberto Fabbri, Jon Christopher Nelson, Orlando Jacinto García, Carlos Rafael Rivera, Timothy Melbinger, Antonino Hernández Lisazo, Armando Rodriguez Ruidiaz, Carlos Atilano, and Luis Manuel Molina (Molina’s brother), with his Capricho Místico para una Guitarra Solitaria.

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