Santos Ojeda

Santos Ojeda was an American pianist and music educator of Cuban origin. He began learning to play the piano at the age of three under the instruction of his mother. His talent was recognized by the conductor and composer Alejandro García Caturla; together, they performed George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" when Ojeda was 15 years old, marking the work's premiere performance in Cuba.

He subsequently traveled to the United States to further his education and was accepted into the Juilliard School in the class of Josef Lhévinne, reportedly becoming the institution's first foreign student. During World War II, Ojeda served in the United States Army. After the war, he remained in Europe to study in Paris with Yves Nat, before returning to New York to graduate from Juilliard under the guidance of Rosina Lhévinne in 1950.

Ojeda's teaching career included positions at the Juilliard School and Columbia University. From 1967 to 1987, he served as a professor of piano at the University of Cincinnati. In his later years, Ojeda moved to Miami, Florida, to be closer to his family. He passed away at the age of 87 due to complications from pneumonia at a hospital in Hialeah.

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