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Maestro Ulises Hernandez at Mozart’s birthplace home in Salzburg, Austria.

Its origins hark back to 2006 when celebrated Cuban piano maestro and composer Ulises Hernandez Morgadanes organized a tribute to the Salzburg genius on his 250th birthday. The homage featured a series of presentations throughout that entire Mozartian year that included 26 sonatas, three fantasies and a number of concertos for piano and orchestra.

As a happy follow-up to those months, the Lyceum was founded in 2009, the result of a joint effort among the Office of the Havana City Historian, the International Mozart Foundation in Salzburg and the Higher Institute of Art in Cuba (ISA) in a bid to promote the composer’s work and the performance of Cuban concert and classic pianists from the island nation and other parts of the world. Today, the lyceum is home to the ISA Piano Division and its media library –open for public access. The library contains a complete digital collection of his scores, together with a through collection of his music in both audio and video. On the third week of every month, the Havana Mozartian Lyceum organizes concertos in its San Felipe Neri Oratorio Hall. As to its training and educational functions, international courses are taught every year with the support of the Salzburg Mozarteum, and the Musicalia Contest for young music students from around the world is held. Its upcoming edition will take place in 2013. “The most important thing is that Mozart is alive because his music has a place like this and his music is played here,” said Ulises Hernandez.