By Jorge Conte-Porras

Alfredo de Saint Malo was born in Panama City in 1898. As a child, his parents enrolled him in a little school directed by Narciso Garay Díaz to take violin lessons. Thanks to his exceptional talent, in 1915 the government of Panama granted Saint Malo a scholarship to study violin at the Paris Conservatory.  He enrolled as a full time student in 1916. Upon graduation in 1919, he received the coveted Premier Prix de Violin and the same year he played as soloist at the age of 21. In 1925, after an invitation from an artistic association in New York, Saint Malo performed various concerts there, and immediately after, in other U. S. cities.  Reviewers and listeners agreed that he had incomparable talent.  He spent a long concert season in California after signing a contract with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. In 1929 Saint Malo made a successful tour of Italy.  In Rome he was welcomed by Pope Pío XII, and according to the October 27, 1929 of Panama’s newspaper La Estrella de Panamá, he played for Mussolini.  Mussolini stated  he had never heard before a violinist of such excellent quality. The newspaper also stated:  "Alfredo de Saint Malo was also welcomed by Pope Pío XI in a private hearing.  After listening to Saint Malo, the Pope blessed Saint Malo’s Stradivarius violin.”

In 1930, Saint Malo returned to Panama and was greeted with countless accolades.  Upon his arrival he performed various recitals at the National Theatre of Panama and at the recital hall of the Instituto Nacional de Panamá.  In 1934 he was invited to the White House to perform privately for president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his wife Eleanor, and various other relatives. Saint Malo also performed many times with The National Symphony of Panama, which was founded in 1941. 

Eduardo Charpentier Herrera notes, in a short biography of Saint Malo: “In the year 1941 [Alfredo de Saint Malo] was recruited by Dr. Arnulfo Arias, Panama’s president at the time, to become director of the newly founded National Conservatory of Music.