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Hilario Duran

Cuban Canadian virtuoso Hilario Duran is well recognized for his piano playing and composing skills.

About Me

Winner of the Louis Applebaum Composers Award, Hilario Duran, grew up in Havana into a musical family surrounded by various musical influences.

His first work as a professional musician was Cuba's Los Papa Cun-Cun Ensemble. Later on, in the 70's, he was Chucho Valdés' chosen successor in Cuba's most modern big band, ‘Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna’.

Since arriving in Canada, Hilario has made a name for himself. He is a multi-Canadian Juno Award winner and nominee; an American Grammy nominee; a multi-Canadian National Jazz Award winner & nominee; and the proud recipient of the 2007 Chico O'Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to Afro-Cuban Jazz and Latin Jazz. In addition, he has recently been recognized as the winner in the Latin Jazz category of the Latin Awards Canada 2020, 6th Edition.

Hilario Duran represents an essential aspect in Contemporary Cuban music and Cuban music history; he is a virtuoso player, arranger, composer, and bandleader in his own right. Chucho Valdes has called him “One of the greatest Cuban pianists of the 20th century”. Duran immigrated in 1998 to Canada and was named One of the Ten Most influential Hispanic Canadians in 2009.

Hilario was also named Best Artist of the Year 2013 by the Toronto Musicians' Association and as 2014 Best Vision Award Winner (Premio a la Trayectoria) for his work as an entrepreneur leading his company ES MI MUSICA PRODUCTIONS. Hilario is an adjunct piano professor and ensemble director in the jazz faculty at Toronto, Canada's Humber College.

Hilario's recent work as a composer includes the composition and arrangements of the film scores for the movie “The Cuban,” a film directed by filmmaker Sergio Navarreta; this film is about the power of music over Alzheimer's. Duran also was commissioned to compose “Ontario's Memories,” a 5-minute movement performed by the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra as part of the World Premiere Suite made by Canadian composers to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday. This composition also was performed in Toronto by the Toronto Jazz Orchestra.

ALMA Records Peter Cardinali and award-winning engineer John 'Beetle' Bailey accompanied Duran to Havana. The team set up in Havana's famed EGREM recording studio to record his album Contumbao. The cast of musical heavyweights assembled in Havana to record 11 new Duran original compositions. Hilario's mission is certainly fulfilled here, as Contumbao has an impressive dynamic range of different tempos, tones, and moods.

My Jazz Story

I was first exposed to jazz since I was a child. The Durán household was filled with sounds of his family’s diverse record collection that included everything from classical, jazz, and popular music from all over the world. Hilario started playing the piano by ear when he was eight years old. As a young boy, Hilario was obsessed with the piano and absorbed himself in the works of artists such as Errol Garner, Roy Eldridge, Harry James, Jachaturian, also Tchaikovsky, Gershwin, Ernesto Lecuona, Bola de Nieve, Vicentico Valdés, Adolfo Guzman, and Frank Emilio Flynn.