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Niurka González an Exceptional Cuban Musician
Niurka will also participate in the second part of the expedition that Silvio and other outstanding Cuban artists will carry out in Cuban prisons starting next April 15, besides preparing a concert with the National Symphonic Orchestra for September.

For those who still dont know her, neither have heard the virtuousness of her flute I will tell you we are before a young woman not older than 31 years old, considered one of the most important Cuban interpreters of the last five years. In year 1997 she won the First Prize in the Superior Conservatory of Music of Paris and prize in the IX Festival and Competition of Contemporary Music Jose Ardevol, as well as a mention to the performance of a Cuban work.

Gonzalez who has had the chance to work since her beginnings with that important figure of the Cuban music, Leo Brouwer and of accompanying with her flute in several interpretations her husband Silvio Rodriguez grants a small dialogue where she appears as mother, woman, artist, and educator.

- When do you notice that your life will spinning around music?

- I don't come from a musical family but my vocation appeared since I was a little girl.

One day I told my mom what is a doctor that I wanted to sing and she took me to Maria Alvarez Rios and Meñique Group and there were my first musical experiences. Years later, when I had the required age, I went through the proficiency tests of Manuel Saumell conservatory and I began my musical academic training".

- What has maestro Leo Brouwer meant in your career?

- Maestro Leo Brouwer is a musical genius. So you can only imagine what a privilege it has been for me, not only to meet him, but having the pleasure to work with him for 15 years. My premiere with the National Symphonic orchestra was under his direction. In this first concert I played the Concertino of Carl Maria von Weber for clarinet and orchestra. I enjoy a lot playing his music, I think his works for the flute are indispensable for any flutist.

- For your interpretation of the Sonata for flute solo of maestro Leo Brouwer you won a first prize several years ago in the Interpretation Contest Jose Ardevol. What emotions did you experience in that time?

- That prize in the Jose Ardevol contest was a great surprise for me, I didn't expect the award was for me. I remember I was still studying at Amadeo Roldan conservatory. The program of the competition was of pure Cuban music what brought me close to composers that were a new revelation for me.

- How do you handle your responsibilities as mother, teacher of ISA, and your career as interpreter?

- Well, juggling a lot. First of all I am a mother and I am devoted to my family, because of that harmonious nucleus which is the family everything else should sprout. I am lucky to do a work I adore. Id like the time to stretch out and that days had 48 hours and still wouldnt be enough for me. There are always things to do, to study and to learn. I particularly enjoy the matter of teaching; I feel that I contribute to the formation of those students as flutists, as musicians and as human beings which is in the end and at the beginning, the biggest responsibility we have, to be good people doing whatever we do.

- What experiences has left you as an artist to have participated with the poet Silvio Rodriguez in Cita con Angeles, Expedicion, Mariposas, and Erase que se era?

- Its a work that I like and that it demands a lot from me. Id that besides enjoyment, the experience attained tells me that is necessary to keep on studying and being revitalized every day.

- Any anecdote or experience you could share with the internet users about the cultural tour to Cuban prisons.

- I am proud of being a tiny part of that magic expedition. To integrate a project that believes in human improvement, to contribute a grain of sand, its very touching.

- Could you comment on any immediate project.

- Starting April 15 we set on the second part of the Expedition, we will have concerts in Karl Marx theater with Silvio in May, a chamber music concert with the Soloists of Havana and I am preparing a concert with the National Symphonic Orchestra in September.
Niurka Gonzalez Nuñez, was born on March 21, 1977 in Havana, Cuba. Begins their musical studies in Manuel Saumell Conservatory in 1989 with the professors Luisa M. Hernandez and Maria Isabel Castro.

After graduating as flutist and clarinetist in Amadeo Roldan Conservatory in 1995 under the guidance of the professors Halina Kusiak and Aldo Salvent, continued her studies in Higher Institute of Art of Cuba with professors Luis Bayard in flute and Jesus Rencurrell in clarinet, there she won in 1999 the Golden Diploma in the specialty of Music with profiles in flute. She is married to Silvio Rodriguez, creator next to other singer and songwriters of the Cuban Nueva Trova, with which she has participated in several tours during years 2006 and 2007.

(CubaSi)

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