Cuban-born composer and conductor Tania León is renowned in both capacities for music that is multicultural and polystylistic. In 1969, León became a co-founder of the Dance Theater of Harlem and established its music department, school, and orchestra. She wrote several ballets for the group. Commissions for León's compositions came from Europe as well as the U.S. The New York Philharmonic premiered her orchestral work Stride in 2019; the work won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2020, and the following year, León was given the Kennedy Center Honors. León's works include chamber music, orchestral works, vocal and solo piano pieces, and Alegre for concert band (2003). Some 40 of her compositions had been recorded by the early 2020s.