Outstanding Master of scenic design and Cuban painter. He was the technical director and general designer of the Cuban Contemporary Dance Ensemble, among other specialized positions throughout his life.
Pascual Eduardo Arrocha Fernández was born in Guanabacoa, Havana, Cuba on May 17, 1934, therefore he is celebrating 90 years of fruitful life. In 1959 he graduated in the specialty of ‘Painting’ at the National Academy of Fine Arts “San Alejandro” in Havana. In 1961 he carried out stage design studies with the prominent designer and set designer Rubén Vigón at the National Library of the capital. He received higher studies in painting with the Cuban painters Agustín Fernández and with Maestro René Portocarrero in 1962 and in 1966 he received classes and studies in scenic design with L. Vychodyl (set designer of the National Theater of Prague, Czechoslovakia).
Also in Havana he linked up with prominent personalities in the arts and theater such as: Alicia Alonso, Tomas Morales and Santiago Alfonso. With a long career that totals more than seventy years of work in the plastic arts, focused on the design of dramatic shows, musical magazines and teaching, covering: puppets, cabaret, cinema, television, carnivals, ballet and dance together with his great friend and collaborator Ramiro Guerra who achieved a perfect confluence in the creative processes in which they ventured.
They brought Rubén Vigón to television, from whom Arrocha initially received classes to be in charge of the setting, a task that concretized what was already being done with a lot of work. He considers that Vigón was a magician of setting. In 1959, with the triumph of the Revolution, products and materials began to increase in price, plus the exodus of a group of artists and also some technicians. Camacho left the country and Luis Márquez proposed Vigón for the set design department, there he started as a director and became a permanent staff and from 1960 he became a magnificent set designer.
Those who do not frequently attend the theater; On our television we have had the opportunity throughout the country to be able to enjoy the spaces of “Theater on TV”, in “The Eternal Dance” or “Bravo” to appreciate the exquisite work of the costume and set design of the master who is Eduardo Arrocha, who set a standard in that specialty.
On the other hand, Arrocha began working in the National Modern Dance Ensemble in 1971 (currently Contemporary Dance of Cuba). Since then he has been Chief Designer and Technical Director of this important company. He has served as an example for the young generations who have continued his career, he has transmitted to them his most humane and professional way of working.
He has made around four hundred set, costume and lighting designs for the most diverse cultural genres and with the most important opera or dance theater groups in the country; as well as fifteen film titles in national cinematography. Her designs fill dissimilar emblematic works of our scene with color and good taste, which have also crossed the glass of the small screens of our television, including: “Swan Lake”, “Giselle”which deserved the Grand Prix of the Town of Paris, “The Skinny Prize”, “Hello Dolly”, “Medea and the slavers”, “Okantomí”, “Sulkary” of the dancer and choreographer Eduardo Rivero and many others…
There are very few designers who have managed to be protagonists of so many achievements in the Cuban performing arts, who have given color and elegance to the performances throughout the country, among them the name of Eduardo Arrocha is essential.
Today we do not want to overlook this small tribute on the date of his birthday and this very meritorious work through so many years of work within the plastic arts in his specialty where he, Eduardo Arrocha, has been a paradigm for those who will continue his path in art…
Thank you and Congratulations Master!!!
On the national scene
On national television
- Plays were put on in which his work as a set designer was included.
On the international scene
- The skinny prizeBulgaria, (1971)
- Cecilia ValdesPoland, (1972)
- Panorama, Mexico(1980)
- The poet, Bulgaria(1989)
- Strawberry and ChocolateUnited States of America, (1998)
- Porgy and BessAustria, (2000)
He has participated in twenty-one scenic design exhibitions in Cuba and Mexico (1966), Chile (1967) and Yugoslavia (1984).
His participation in the Prague Quadrennials of Scenic Design and Theatrical Architecture (1971, 1975, 1983 and 1987) stands out.
He has made work trips to thirty-two countries in the hemisphere.
Awards and distinctions
