Ernestina Lecuona y Casado was born in
Matanzas into a musical family. Her brother was pianist and composer
Ernesto Lecuona.
Leo Brouwer, a
classical guitarist, is her grandson, and gymnast-political scientist
Rafael A. Lecuona, an
anti-communist, was her nephew. She studied music at the Centro Asturiano de La Habana and with French teacher
Lucía Calderón. At the age of 15, Lecuona completed her first work
Habanera Luisa, which was published widely in Cuba and Spain by Anselmo López in 1897. She gave early music lessons to her younger brother Ernesto. In 1936 she was invited to
New York City by the Pan American Union, where she accompanied the Mexican tenor
Tito Guizar. She made contact with singer
Jessica Dragonette, who added some of Lecuona's works to her repertoire. In 1937 she founded a women's orchestra in Cuba, which debuted at the Teatro Alkazar, and in 1938 performed in concerts at the National Theatre. In 1939 she toured Mexico, Chile and Argentina, and traveled in South America again from 1940 to 1942. She traveled with her brother on tour, and sometimes played a duo for four hands with him at radio stations and concert venues, including
Carnegie Hall in 1948. She died in Havana. ==Works==