With the will to offer a program of excellence designed to satisfy the most demanding tastes, the fifth edition of Habana Clásica is about to raise its curtains. Audiences from Cuba and the world will enjoy, from November 18 to December 3, one of the biggest festivals in honor of the many types of music that converge there.

Founded in 2017 by Marcos Madrigal, renowned Cuban pianist and artistic director, the festival this year will pay tribute to renowned performer and flute teacher Roberto Ondina (1904- 1963), on the sixtieth anniversary of his death. Since its foundation, Habana Clásica has fostered the artistic growth of young talents through direct dialogue with some of the world's most outstanding artists. At the same time, it articulates a program that alternates concerts, teaching, and social projects, a singularity that positions it as a reference within the city's cultural panorama. 

For the second time, the event has the support of the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) as a leading donor through Lorenzo Suarez, deputy director of SDC and Cultural Counselor of the Swiss Embassy in Cuba. Suarez also serves as general producer of this edition, the most ambitious of those held so far, which has brought together more than a hundred artists including soloists and orchestras from Germany, Canada, Cuba, the United States, France, Italy, Lebanon, Mali, Mexico, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Poland, the United Kingdom, Syria, Sweden, Switzerland, and Tunisia. 

The Youth Art Fund (YAF), SDC's cultural platform that supports emerging artistic creation, leads the financial and operational management of the festival, together with the Esteban Salas Musical Heritage Office. The festival is also sponsored by the Habana Clásica Cultural Association (ACHC) based in Rome, Italy, the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana (OHCH), and the Cuban Institute of Music (ICM). 

This year, the festival has invited Daniel Toledo Guillén to occupy the position of Composer in Residence. The young Cuban, a graduate of the University of the Arts (ISA) and HfKM-Regensburg, Germany, is a devoted representative of a generation that is beginning, with solid steps, to write its history. His mission is to show the public the new paths along which the languages of contemporary creation are moving. 

Important international artists arrive for the first time at the festival. On this occasion we are joined by Jacques Zoon (flute, Switzerland/Netherlands), Sarah Willis (horn, Germany/United Kingdom), Trio Chagall (violin, cello and piano, Italy), Grégoire Maret (harmonica, Switzerland/United States), Thomas Mesa (cello, United States), Nada Mahmoud (oud, Tunisia), Iseut Chuat (cello, Switzerland/France), Giulia Rimonda (violin, Italy), the duo Karolina Mikolajczyk & Iwo Jedynecki (violin and physharmonica, Poland), Layale Chaker (violin, Lebanon/France) and Kinan Azmeh (clarinet, Syria/USA).  

Also returning to the annual Habana Clásica meeting are composer Nicola Sani (Italy), pianist Alessandro Stella (Italy), flutist Jona Venturi (Switzerland/Italy), violinists Linus Roth (Germany) and Lissy Abreu Ruíz (Cuba/Sweden), cellists Sonja Kraus (Germany) and Willem Stam (Canada/Netherlands) and soprano Mónica Marziota (Italy).  

Also, distinguished Cuban artists are participating such as Niurka González (flute), Guido López Gavilán (founder and director of the Música Eterna Chamber Orchestra), Daiana García (director of the Havana Chamber Orchestra), Yasek Manzano (trumpet), Harold López-Nussa (piano), Yosvany Terry (saxophone) and Bryan López (tenor).  

Each program has been carefully curated according to the expertise of each performer. The intention is precisely to promote the integration between styles, repertoires, and periods in a commitment to the diversity of the most ephemeral and at the same time perennial of the arts. 

Motivated by the possibility of bringing new sounds to our public, another novelty will be four recitals focused on the music of non-academic classical traditions, from the Arab world and West Africa. We are visited by the singer Afef Ouni (Tunisia) and oudist Nada Mahmoud (Tunisia), a duet of young Maghreb women who will offer the artistic richness of their land. They will be joined by three outstanding Cuban musicians: pianist Ernesto Oliva, double bass player Olivia Rodriguez, and percussionist Alejandro Aguiar, who will perform part of this repertoire. Another key moment will be the performance of Malian kora master Chérif Soumano and Cuban virtuoso pianist Rolando Luna, who will share the stage for the first time in Havana.  

The most prestigious stages of the historic center become the main venue of a festival that also grows and radiates other realities far from the main circuits. In this sense, Habana Clásica reaffirms its social commitment through projects whose main beneficiaries will be children receiving medical care in pediatric hospitals, as well as residents in the neighborhoods of La Güinera in the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo, and in La Timba, located in El Vedado. Workshops are also planned at the National Museum of Fine Arts. Aimed at children in synergy with specialized schools, the proposal will focus on Arab music combined with drawing sessions. At the end of the workshops, the resulting works will be exhibited as a testimony of what has been learned.  

The festival's agenda includes, in addition to the artistic programming and social actions, an extensive list of educational meetings and master classes for music students, which provide the opportunity to learn and add the experience of the artists who will participate in this fifth edition.  

Habana Clásica has experienced an admirable growth in terms of attendance. During its last edition, in 2022, it gathered an audience of more than eleven thousand music lovers. In the hope that these numbers translate into vitality and joy, all are invited to this celebration of music.