Biography Moisés Simons

1 biography

1.1 years
1.2 career
1.3 later years

biography
early years

moisés simons born on 24 august 1889 in havana, cuba. son of basque musician, started studying music father, leandro simón guergué. age of 9, organist @ local church in barrio of jesús maría , choirmaster of pilar church. @ 15, undertook advanced studies under various maestros in composition, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, , instrumentation.

career

later, simons became concert pianist , musical director of lyric theater companies. worked @ teatro martí musical comedies ernesto lecuona performed. moved teatro payret under contract spanish composer, vicente lleó, directed zarzuela company whom toured throughout latin american including mexico, dominican republic, puerto rico, , central america.

in 1924, simons founded jazz band played on roof garden of plaza hotel in havana. consisted of piano, violin, alto , tenor saxophones, flute, banjo, double bass, drums, , timbales. simons on piano, other members included virgilio diego on violin, alberto socarrás on alto sax , flute, josé ramón betancourt on tenor sax, , pablo o farrill on double bass. in 1928 while still @ same venue, simons hired famous trumpeter, julio cueva, vocalist , drummer, enrique santiesteban. these top instrumentalists garnered top fees in times of $8 day.

simons did research history of cuban music publishing articles in newspapers , magazines. wrote scores stage shows , several films. president of association of musical solidarity , technical director of society of wind orchestras.

simons renowned composer during era of afrocubanismo, time between world war , world war ii when contributions of afro-cubans cuban culture gaining recognition. other celebrated composers during afro-cuban awakening alejandro garcía caturla, amadeo roldán, ernesto lecuona, eliseo grenet, gonzalo roig, rodrigo prats, , jorge anckermann.

later years

for of 1930s, simons lived , worked in france, in paris, , still there when world war ii broke out. able return cuba in 1942. moved spanish canary island of tenerife , later madrid, spain signed contract provide music film, bambú, included last known composition, hoy como ayer (today yesterday in english).

moisés simons died in madrid, spain, on 28 june 1945. 55.