Manuel Ochoa Papers

Identity elements

Name and location of repository

Level of description

Collection

Title

Manuel Ochoa Papers

Date(s)

  • circa 1925-2006 (Creation)

Extent

35 Boxes

Name of creator

Biographical history

Manuel Ochoa was born on October 6, 1925, in Holguín, Cuba to Manuel Trinidad Ochoa and Caridad Ochoa. He showed a strong ability for music from an early age, beginning his music studies with his mother, Caridad Ochoa, a classically trained opera singer. Manuel Ochoa made his musical debut in his hometown at the age of seventeen, conducting Verdi’s Il Trovatore. In 1942 he created the Sociedad Coral de Holguín, conducting the chorale ensemble until 1946. As music director of the Sociedad Coral, Ochoa presented international renowned artists such as the Vienna Boys Choir, with whom he began a close and longstanding collaboration. This relationship served as inspiration to create the Niños Cantores de la Habana for Cardinal Archbishop Monsignor Manuel Arteaga.

Ochoa went on to graduate from the Conservatorio Internacional de Música in Havana, and began his professional career as a choral conductor in Havana. He was the conductor of several choirs in Havana, such as the Coro de Madrigalistas. With the Coro de Madrigalistas, he presented a capella polyphonic works along with symphonic-choral works. Ochoa continued his education in Europe, where he graduated from the Real Conservatorio de Madrid in Spain after receiving a scholarship from the Instituto de Cultura Hispanica. He then studied conducting technique at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome under Maestro Bonaventura Somma; and in Vienna under Hermann Scherchen of the German School of Conducting.

Upon returning to Cuba after his studies, Ochoa was named Professor of Conducting Techniques at the Conservatorio Nacional and conducted the Orquesta Filarmonica de la Habana and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional. Later in Europe, he conducted the Orquesta y Coro de la Radio Nacional de España, the Orquesta de Camara de Madrid, and the Piccola Opera di Roma.

After studying and working in Cuba, Spain, Vienna, and Rome, Ochoa settled in Miami following the Cuban Revolution. He was among the first of Miami’s Cuban exile artists to see the creative opportunities that the city could offer as the gateway of the Americas. In 1969 Ochoa conceived the Centro de Artes de America, a performing arts center to promote cultural collaboration across the Americas. Between 1969 and 1980 he founded and became general director and orchestra conductor for the Sociedad Artístico Cultural de las Americas and the Compañia Hispano-Americana de Arte in Miami. Both organizations made major contributions to the cultural development of the South Florida area and received public recognition from the City of Miami and Dade County for outstanding cultural achievement.

In 1989 Maestro Ochoa founded the Miami Symphony Orchestra as a cultural expression of Miami’s multiethnic community. Ochoa served as the artistic director and conductor of the Miami Symphony Orchestra from its founding in 1989 until 2006, leading the orchestra in award-winning programming and performances, including guest performances at prestigious venues such as New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall.

Manuel Ochoa was married to Sofia Ochoa and they had one son, Manuel.

Content and structure elements

Scope and content

The papers document professional activities of Manuel Ochoa, Cuban exile musician and choral and orchestra conductor who founded the Miami Symphony Orchestra.  The materials consist of correspondence, published and unpublished musical scores, photographs, concert programs and pamphlets, clippings, writings about classical music, minutes of the meetings, concert papers, memorabilia, diplomas, magazines, scrapbooks and working papers of Miami Symphony Orchestra.

System of arrangement

The papers are arranged into six series: Series 1, personal and professional papers; Series 2, Miami Symphony Orchestra; Series 3, music scores; Series 4, photos; Series 5, newspaper clippings; Series 6, audio visual.

Conditions of access and use elements

Conditions governing access

This collection is open for research.

Physical access

Technical access

Conditions governing reproduction

Requests to publish or display materials from this collection require written permission from the rights owner. Please, contact chc@miami.edu for more information.

Preferred citation: Manuel Ochoa Papers, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, Florida.

Languages of the material

  • English
  • Spanish

Scripts of the material

Language and script notes

Finding aids

Generated finding aid

Acquisition and appraisal elements

Custodial history

4 additional 1LF boxes of primarily scores added September, 2013. Oversize posters and awards added September, 2014.

Immediate source of acquisition

Gift of María Sofía Ochoa, 1995.  Material was added in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013 and 2014.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information

Accruals

Related materials elements

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Selected materials from this collection have been digitized.

https://digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/digital/collection/chc0487

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Related descriptions

Notes element

General note

Other Information:

To access an interview Manuel Ochoa gave to the WLRN Huellastelevision program, see: Cuban Memories, Commemorating 25 years of the Miami Symphony Orchestra.

Rights Statement: The text of this webpage is available for modification and reuse under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GNU Free Documentation License (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).

Specialized notes

Alternative identifier(s)

Description control element

Rules or conventions

Sources used

Archivist's note

Initial processing by Beata Bergen and Sofia Ochoa, 2010- 2011. Processed by Sofia Ochoa and Natalie Baur, 2013-2014. The collection-level record created by Beata Bergen, October 2009. Container list by Sofia Ochoa, May 2014. Updated by Rebeca Gonzalez, May 2021.

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