ABOUT

Sue has been based in Havana, Cuba, for over 25 years – her working life centred on music, interwoven with writing and community education. Living in a culture of wall-to-wall sound she’s been increasing drawn to creating music work and environments which experiment with silence, space and attentive listening. Her project, Quiet Nights, is rooted in this exploration.

MUSIC / WORK IN EDUCATION (UK) Inspired by popular music, jazz and radical politics of the 70’s/80’s Sue left classical training to work in social/youth work then Further Education. During this time she also began composing for documentary, Children’s TV and theatre.

In 1997, an unexpected move to Cuba led to teaching work at Havana University and later study under Cuban concert pianist/composer, Andres Alen. Under his tutelage she produced two major concerts of original work, the latter (Quiet Nights: Up into the Silence) receiving national.music awards.

WORK IN PROGRESS (Cuba/UK): As of 2025 Sue is producing a new Quiet Nights project – Poetizandome – thinking about Cuban poetry in its broadest and most diverse forms – from the more traditional to spoken word, street calls (pregones), religious prayer and children’s verse.

TOURISM/EDUCATION (Cuba): Alongside composing Sue has written extensively about Cuban culture and curated cultural experiences for visitors. Her articles and blogs have appeared in various travel and cultural publications (Esencia Travel, Cubania, Caledonia, Time Out) with curated work more focussed on supporting the African-Cuban community. Sue also supports MeAmo – a project to develop positive-image black dolls for children.