Cuban singer Melvis Santa wins a prestigious music creation scholarship in the U.S.

The Cuban singer, pianist, composer, and percussionist Melvis Santa has been recognized with the New Music USA Creator Fund 2025, one of the most important programs for contemporary music creation in the United States.

Thanks to this scholarship, Santa will develop a duo album with the Brazilian guitarist and arranger Vinicius Gomes, both residing in Brooklyn, New York.

“We will draw inspiration from our cultural heritages (Cuba-Brazil), while reflecting on our vibrant journey as independent artists based in Brooklyn, the city that united our art,” wrote the Cuban artist on her Facebook profile upon hearing the news.

The funding provided by New Music USA supports expenses related to the creation, production, collaboration, and professional development of artists, with a focus on promoting strong, collaborative, and culturally diverse projects.

This year, the program distributed $224,000 among 62 artists from 14 states in the South, the West, and New York, in a selection that prioritizes equity and regional impact.

The announcement, celebrated by colleagues and followers, confirms what Melvis Santa's career has been demonstrating for years: talent, rigor, and an artistic identity inextricably linked to the land that gave her life. It also acknowledges a consistent trajectory deeply connected to ancestry, free creation, and cultural commitment.

According to the magazine Cuba Jazz Magazine, the support will not only facilitate this collaboration, “but it also highlights the work of Melvis Santa as a creator within the international scene. For the Cuban artist, this recognition represents a new impetus for her career and an opportunity to continue exploring the multiple resonances of Afro-Cuban music in dialogue with other traditions.”

While celebrating the news, music researcher Rosa Marquetti recalled on her Facebook profile that in addition to founding, directing, and managing her own group Jazz Orishas, Melvis Santa is also a member of the band of the influential saxophonist Kenny Garrett. She has also collaborated with notable figures such as Pedrito Martínez, Román Díaz, Xiomara Laugart, Arturo O’Farrill, Bobby Sanabria, Osmany Paredes, David Virelles, Ravi Coltrane, Christian McBride, Andy Bey, Dee Dee Bridgewater, among others.

"I admire the high regard with which Melvis embraces her identity as a musician, but above all, her diligence, her refusal to make any concessions other than the depth with which she feels and represents her roots, her ancestry through music, with such a creative sense. Congratulations, dear Melvis! Our pride!" emphasized Marquetti.

Melvis Santa Estevez Guzmán was born in Havana and graduated in 2001 from the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory. She was a founding member of the vocal quartet Sexto Sentido, with which she recorded three albums. She was also part of the project Interactivo, directed by the musician Robertico Carcassés. Additionally, she is a Professor of Music Theory.

Since 2010, she began her solo career with the album "Santa Habana." She has also worked as an actress in a short film with an Italian director and starred alongside German actor Daniel Brühl in one of the segments of the feature film 7 Days in Havana.

Frequently asked questions about Melvis Santa and her music creation scholarship in the U.S.