Ignacio Cervantes

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Ignacio Cervantes Kawanagh (Havana, 31 July 1847 – Havana, 29 April 1905) was a Cuban virtuoso pianist and composer, considered to be one of the most influential to the Music of Cuba.

A child prodigy, he was taught by hometown pianist Juan Miguel Joval, later by composer and tutor Nicolás Ruiz Espadero (1859) and the visiting american composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk who encouraged Cervantes to study at the Conservatoire de Paris (1866-1870) under Antoine François Marmontel and Charles-Valentin Alkan, where he was awarded first prizes in composition (1866) and harmony (1867), as well as performed with Christina Nilsson and Adelina Patti. Back in Havana (1870) he got involved in disputes with renowned José White and had to leave the country (1876-1879) for USA.

Cervantes wrote one opera (Maledetto, 1895), various chamber pieces (Scherzo cappricioso, 1885), zarzuelas, and the famous forty-one Danzas Cubanas. He also conducted for the Opera company at Havana's Payret Theater. His Fusión de Almas was written to his daughter, María Cervantes (1885-1981), who became a well-known composer and pianist.