Mozart in Havana

"My first direct connection to Cuba came in 2013 when my former piano teacher Solomon Mikowsky inaugurated a piano festival in Havana, and invited me to play. Two years later I returned to his festival, this time to play a Mozart concerto with the Havana Lyceum Orchestra. I had not known what to expect, and they were stunning. The orchestra mixed conservatory students, recent graduates and professors. They played with thoughtful sensitivity and sensual beauty, despite the fact that in some cases the materials they were using were inferior. It was clear that the sound they made came from inside them, not simply from their instruments. I left thinking that the world would be hearing much more from them." SIMONE DINNERSTEIN