Rolando Valdés-Blain
| Rolando Valdés-Blain | |
|---|---|
Valdés-Blain
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| Background information | |
| Born |
21 February 1922 Havana, Cuba |
| Died | 2 April 2011 (aged 89) New York City |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Instrumentalist |
| Instruments | Classical guitar |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts |
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Rolando Valdés-Blain (21 February 1922 – 2 April 2011) was a Cuban classical guitarist, born in Havana, and immigrated to New York as a child. In the 1930s he and his brother Alberto had a weekly music show on WNYC radio. He served in Burma from 1942 to 1946 during World War II and afterwards studied at the Madrid Royal Conservatory, where he was awarded the Grand Prize for concert guitar playing by Joaquín Rodrigo. He toured worldwide under the management of impresario Sol Hurok and his United States tours as guitar soloist included Yale University, Carnegie Recital Hall, and the Spanish Ballet. He was one of the pioneering classical guitarists to perform as soloist together with a symphony orchestra, in 1955 with the Radio City Music Hall Symphony Orchestra and the Joffrey Ballet at the New York City Center. He appeared in Tennessee Williams's Broadway play Camino Real and he also composed the music for the play Bullfight. He was vice-president and adviser of Manuel Velazquez guitars and founder of the Guitar Department at the Manhattan School of Music. In 1968 he was invited to give a command performance at the White House. The New York Times called his performance "a musical gem…reflecting every baroque nuance of the music".
Rolando Valdés-Blain was born in 1922 in Havana, Cuba and came to New York city as a child. He began his guitar studies with Julio Martínez Oyanguren, a Uruguayan guitarist. Valdés-Blain's first professional appearance in New York took place at 13 years of age. In the mid-1930s, Valdés-Blain was 16 when he was arguably the first in the U.S. to form a classical guitar duo with his brother Alberto. They were heard weekly on radio station WNYC. During World War II he served in Burma from 1942 to 1946. This allowed him to study, on the G.I. Bill, with Regino Sainz de la Maza at the Madrid Royal Conservatory, where he was awarded the Grand Prize for concert guitar playing. Joaquín Rodrigo was one of the judges.
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