AURELIO DE LA VEGA was a Cuban-American composer, lecturer, essayist and poet. He composed over sixty works in all forms and media except opera and since the early 1960s was an active force in the United States musical scene. Many of his compositions are published and recorded, and the majority of them are played constantly nationally and internationally. His music and aesthetic ideas have been commented upon and analyzed in books, newspapers and reviews throughout the United States and Latin America. In 1978 he was awarded the Friedheim Award of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. for his orchestral work "Adiós" which was commissioned and premiered by Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He was nominated four times for a Latin Grammy Award. Three of these nominations were for Best Classical Contemporary Composition: in 2009 for Variación del Recuerdo ("Variation of the Remembrance") for string orchestra, in 2012 for Prelude No. 1 for Piano and in 2017 for Recordatio for soprano, woodwind quintet and string quintet. His fourth nomination was in 2019 for Best Classical Album "Cuba: The Legacy".

De la Vega was born in La Habana, Cuba, November 28, 1925. He was educated at De La Salle College, Havana, 1940-1944 (B.A. in Humanities); University of Havana, 1944-1946 (M.A. in Diplomacy); Ada Iglesias Music Institute, Havana, 1951-1958 (M.A. in Musicology, 1956; Ph.D. in Composition, 1958). He studied composition privately with Fritz Kramer in Havana (1943-1946) and Ernst Toch in California (1947-1948). After occupying important positions in his native land (Editorial Secretary of Conservatorio, official review of the Havana Municipal Conservatory, 1950-1953; music critic of newspapers Alerta (1952-1957) and Diario de la Marina (1957), Havana; President, Cuban Section of the International Society for Contemporary Music, 1952-1954; President, Cuban National Music Council (Cuban branch of the International Council of Music of UNESCO), 1953-1957; Professor of Music and Chairman, Music Department, University of Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, 1953-1959; Treasurer, Cuban Section of the Inter-American Music Association (Caracas), 1955-1958; Vice-President, Havana Philharmonic Orchestra, 1956-1957), he toured the United States as lecturer (1952-1954) and settled in Los Angeles in 1959, becoming an American citizen in 1966.

After being a Guest Professor of Music at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (summer 1959) he became Distinguished Professor of Music, Director of the Electronic Music Studio and Composer-in-residence at California State University, Northridge, 1959-1992. In 1971 he received the Outstanding Professor Award of the entire California State University system. He was a California State University, Northridge Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

De la Vega died in his home in Northridge, California on February 12, 2022, at the age of 96.