More than 80 years old, and after having retired as pianist-repertoire player of the Rodrigo Prats Lyric Theater, to which she devoted herself body and soul from 1962 to 1988, Graciela Morales Fuentes admitted that her greatest ambition was to be a concert pianist.
“I dreamed of performing Chopin, Beethoven, Liszt… but I had several obstacles. Firstly, the death of my father forced me to take the direction of the Conservatory and later the loss of mental health of two of my brothers was another brake to make it, together with other plans. However, I am happy to have made my small contribution to culture,” she said at the time.
Accompanying pianist and outstanding pedagogue not only played an important role in the musical teaching of Holguin, she also contributed to exalt the quality of Holguin’s art with the virtue of getting the best notes to the piano.
Graciela Morales, pianist, Holguin
Born on October 27, 1913, she dedicated herself since childhood to the study of the piano and with barely fifteen years of age she began her work as musical teacher in the Provincial Conservatory of Holguin.
In 1929 the book Cuba Musical praised her interpretation to the piano in works of difficult execution and highlighted her teaching work.
When CMKO radio station was founded in 1936, she collaborated with Manuel Angulo Farrán in different musical programs. In 1937 she became, after the death of Agustín Eulogio Morales Velázquez, her father, the director of the Conservatory of Music of the province until 1968 when this center closed.
Among her honors is having played in presentations of the National Ballet and for the “prima ballerina absoluta”:
“Alicia Alonso came and I was her pianist. She and her representative were delighted with my work. Everyone wanted me to go to Havana, but I didn’t want to. When the National Ballet returned, Alicia told them to look for me. You can imagine what an honor that recommendation was.
Graciela also worked at the National Council of Municipal Culture, was a pianist and teacher at the Art and Ballet Schools, and at the Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Carlos Avilés, as well as director and pianist of the Chamber Ensemble in 1970.
She dedicated a great part of her life to teaching and knew how to share her time between musical art and primary education.
She was a founder of the Lyric Theater of Holguin together with Raul Camayd, where she worked from 1962 to 1988.
In her house on Maceo Street were developed the first meetings of organization of the works that would be mounted in the later shows, among them the Spanish zarzuela “Los Gavilanes”, of Jacinto Guerrero.
This work had great repercussion in the Holguin society of the time, gaining prestige in the country, besides opening the doors of the teaching of the lyric singing in Holguin.
Due to her high technical level, which many musicians and critics evaluated as “virtuosity”, she was pianist of several symphony orchestras that worked with the Teatro Lírico “Rodrigo Prats”, among them the Symphony Orchestras of Santiago de Cuba and Santa Clara.
Graciela devoted herself to teaching until very old (ninety-six). Among her most outstanding repertoire students, it is enough to mention María Luisa Clark, María Dolores Rodríguez and Concepción “Conchita” Casals.
As a token of her work and musical and pedagogical career, Graciela received several awards during her lifetime, among them the Distinction for Cuban Education and the Medal of Recognition from the Council of State.
At the age of 103, on May 18, 2017, she passed away in the city of Holguín. With her disappeared the last representative of a lineage of musicians and pedagogues of great prestige in the province, but she continues as a bastion of the regional cultural history.
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