Biography

Luis Ernesto Peña Laguna is a Canadian composer originally from Cuba, born in 1983 in Las Tunas. He began his musical studies at the vocational art school "El Cucalambé" in his hometown. During this period (1993-1998), he simultaneously completed his primary and secondary education, obtaining his first diploma in singing and choral conducting. In 2002, he graduated with honors from the choral conducting program at the "Esteban Salas" conservatory in Santiago de Cuba. In 2003, he was admitted to the University of Arts of Cuba to study Musical Composition and Orchestral Conducting, graduating with a "Gold Title" and the "Best Academic Average" of the university. He holds a master's degree in the formative processes of artistic education (music pedagogy) from the University of Arts of Cuba (2013) and a master's degree in musical composition from the University of Montreal (2017). Currently, he is pursuing a doctorate in musical composition at the University of Montreal under the guidance of Mr. Jimmie LeBlanc. Throughout his career, he has studied with Alan Belkin, Juan Piñera, Harold Gramatges, Roberto Valera, Guido López Gavilán, Enrique Pérez Mesa, Calixto Álvarez, Ileana Z. García, Grizel Hernández Baguer, and Juan Filiú. Between 2013 and 2014, he pursued French language studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQÀM). He is an accredited composer at the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), a member of the Canadian League of Composers (CLC), and a member of the ACTOR partnership (Analysis, Creation, and Teaching of Orchestration).

Composer

He has a broad catalog of works covering acoustic, electroacoustic, and mixed music. Some of his works have been created for dance, theater, and audiovisual media. Others have been performed at numerous festivals and concerts, both in Cuba and abroad: Festival of the Arts at the University of Arts (Cuba, 2004-2010); Havana International Contemporary Music Festival (Cuba, 2007-2018); Cubadisco International Fair (Cuba, 2013); International Festival and Competition Florilège Vocal (France, 2012); International Festival and Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf (Germany, 2015); Biennale of Contemporary Vocal Music FestyVocal (France, 2018 and 2021); "14th Annual New Music Festival" at Lynn University Conservatory of Music (USA, 2020); Electo Silva International Choir Festival (Cuba, 2021), and many more. Since 2011, his choral music has been used as study material at the "I Orbe" Conservatory of Music in Tandil (Argentina).

His works have been performed by renowned ensembles in his home country, such as: the chamber orchestra "Nuestro Tiempo" of the National Philharmonic of Cuba (2007); the choir "De Profundis" belonging to the National Choir (2011); the National Concert Band (2012); the Alternative Ensemble (2013); the Schola Cantorum Coralina (2015); the juvenile choir "Solfa" (2012) and the Orfeón Santiago (2021). Abroad, his compositions have been performed by: the University of Montreal Choir conducted by Mr. Raymond Perrin (Canada, 2016); the Montreal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mr. Adam Johnson (Canada, 2017); the vocal ensemble Alter Echo, conducted by Mr. Alain Louisot (France, 2018); the Montreal Concert Society Choir, conducted by Mr. Pascal G.-Berardi (Canada, 2019 and 2021); the "Coro de Jóvenes de Madrid," conducted by Mr. Juan Pablo de Juan (Spain, 2021); the Metropolitan Choir and Orchestra of Montreal conducted by Mr. Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Canada, 2022); The Met Orchestra and The Met Chorus of New York conducted by Mr. Yannick Nézet-Séguin (USA, 2023); the University of Montreal Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ms. Marie-France Mathieu (Canada, 2024); then the Philadelphia Choir and Orchestra conducted by Mr. Yannick Nézet-Séguin (USA, 2024); and Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal conducted by Mr. Andrew Gray (Canada, 2024). Additionally, other solo piano works have been performed in Colombia.

Mr. Peña has served as a jury member in various competitions:

• 2012 (Cuba), Musical Creation Grant "Conmutaciones," sponsored by the Association of Brothers Saíz (AHS) and the Cuban Institute of Music.
• 2021 and 2022 (Cuba), International Choral Composition Competition "Electo Silva," sponsored by the International Choir Festival in Santiago de Cuba and the Cuban Institute of Music.
• 2022-2023 and 2024-2025 (France), International Choral Composition Competition FestyVocal, during the Biennale of Contemporary Vocal Music at the Le Corbusier Site in Firminy.

In 2013, the Cuban record label "Colibri" recorded his suite "Bébé," performed by the Alternative Ensemble on the CD "Cuban Suite for Children." This CD received four nominations at the 2014 Cubadisco Festival, two of which were in the categories: "Best Children's Music" and "Best Concert Music."

Between 2014 and 2015, he made arrangements for the Laval Choir directed by Dany Wiseman:

• "Suite de Noël" by John Williams: for instrumental ensemble and choir.
• "A Night on the Bare Mountain" by Mussorgsky: for the Laval Concert Band and choir.

Conductor and Choral Director

In Las Tunas, Cuba, he founded and directed the mixed choir "De Angelis" (2002-2003), with which he performed various classical and contemporary music concerts. He made his debut as a conductor with performers from the "Guillermo Tomás" conservatory chamber orchestra (Guanabacoa, 2009). The following year, he conducted the Eastern Symphony Orchestra (Santiago de Cuba, 2010). In 2011, he served as assistant director of the National Art School Symphony Orchestra (Havana, Cuba).

As a volunteer, he conducted: the Yves-Thériault Center Professors' Choir (Montreal, 2013) and the Alexandria Choir at the Ste-Catherine-d'Alexandrie Community Center (Montreal, 2015).

In Montreal, he founded and directed the Villeray vocal ensemble "Les Gais Lurons" (2015). Between April 2015 and June 2016, he directed the choir in the Popular Education Workshops of the Plateau. He founded and directed the extracurricular projects Les Choristes du Collège Jacques-Prévert (2014-2018) as well as the Louis-Colin School Choir (2017). Between 2016 and 2018, Mr. Peña Laguna was the conductor of the Milton-Parc choir. Since 2018, he has been directing the kindergarten and first-year choirs at the Stanislas College Conservatory of Music.

Researcher and Teacher

As a pedagogue, he has taught traditional and contemporary harmony, polyphony, musical analysis, and music theory at elementary levels as well as in conservatories: "El Cucalambé" (Las Tunas, 2002-2003), "Amadeo Roldán" (2008-2009), "National Lyric Palace" (2007-2011), and "National Art School" (2005-2012). From 2009 to 2012, he directed the theoretical subjects department at the National Art School of Cuba. One year later (2010-2013), he joined the musicology department at the University of Arts of Cuba as an instructor of subjects: theory and history of harmony, theory and history of polyphony, and musical analysis.

As a music teacher in Montreal (Quebec, Canada), between 2015 and 2016, he taught music theory and piano at the Popular Education Workshops of the Plateau Mont-Royal. In 2018, he created and offered their courses on Score Reading I and II as part of the artistic-musical development program that the Milton-Parc Choral Association carried out in its community. From 2018 to 2019, he was a music awakening teacher for the preschool group at the private Collège Jacques-Prévert. From 2017 to today, Mr. Peña Laguna has become an independent teacher with his business Chenille Musicale to teach piano and music theory (harmony, counterpoint, analysis, composition, etc.) to children and adults in private lessons. Since 2018, he has also been teaching piano, introduction to piano, and composition at the Stanislas College Conservatory of Music. Starting in the fall of 2022, he teaches at the Faculty of Music at the University of Montreal as the lecturer for the course MUS 1315 Introduction to Music Theory and as a teaching assistant for the courses MTE 2117 Orchestration by Section (H23) and MCT 3011 - MCT 3012 Tonal Composition (A23 - H24).

Between 2007 and 2019, he undertook research on musical dramaturgy, a topic with which he obtained his master's degree in music pedagogy from the University of Arts of Cuba (2013) and his second master's degree in musical composition from the University of Montreal (2017). His work has been presented at the "XII Meeting of the Hispanic-American Festival of Dízain and Improvised Verse" (2005), the "XVI Scientific Conference of the University of Arts of Cuba" (2013), and the "International Cubadisco Symposium 2013" organized by the Center for Research and Development of Cuban Music (CIDMUC).

Since 2020, he has been exploring the expression of spirituality and transcendence in his music. This new theoretical and conceptual challenge in his creative process has led him to pursue doctoral studies at the University of Montreal starting in the fall of 2022.

He has given workshops and lectures on musical analysis and composition to the women's choir "Mayahuel" (Guadalajara, Mexico, 2021) and at the 34th edition of the Electo Silva International Choir Festival (Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, 2021).

Two of his articles have been published in the journal "Clave" of the Cuban Institute of Music (2013 and 2016).