“This is How the Students Graduate!”: Cuban Conservatories as Infrastructures of Musical Globalization

Contributing to the study of musical globalization from a Latin American perspective, this article responds to the current critique of “Eurasian centrism” in global history. The analysis of music conservatories founded in Cuba around 1900 shows how intertwined connectivity and disconnectivity were in musical globalization processes. Modeled on European examples, they served Cuban musicians to develop their careers in the Caribbean and the Atlantic world. At the same time, the consolidation of high-level professional training in Cuba made musical education and professionalism less dependent on travels to Europe. For the professional projects of non-European musicians, the Cuban conservatories highlight two functions of musical infrastructures: first, their adoption and imparting of European musical knowledge. Conservatories were crucial for Cuban musicians and equipped them with the necessary prestige to start a professional career. Second, conservatories as musical infrastructures opened education to a wider circle of students, among them a rising number of women and musicians of color. This article argues that the establishment of conservatories therefore initiated emancipatory social developments and provided professional empowerment within Cuba’s musical life.