Festival Coral Santiago de Cuba

Founded in 1961 by Maestro Electo Silva, the Festival Internacional de Coros builds on Santiago de Cuba's status as the country's declared Capital of Choirs since 1978, rooted in composer Esteban Salas's eighteenth-century choral movement. Reaching a thirty-third edition with choirs from as many as eight countries, the five-day November event combines formal concert-hall performances with informal street singing and a closing Grand Farewell Concert.

Santiago de Cuba's claim to being the country's choral capital rests on genuine eighteenth-century foundations: composer Esteban Salas built an entire popular choral movement in the city during that period, and it was this historical depth that led culture minister Armando Hart Davalos to formally declare Santiago the permanent home of Cuba's choral tradition in 1978, giving the city an institutional title, Capital of Choirs, that its modern festival draws on directly.