Hilario Durán was born in 1953 in Cuba to a family that hugely influenced his interest in music and creative mind. He started his music career in the Los Papa Cun-Cun ensemble. In the 70s, Durán was chosen as the successor of Chucho Valdes of Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, the biggest band in Cuba. He studied at Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán Music Institute in Havana where he learned tumbao, composition, orchestration and conducting.

He founded a group called Los D’Siempre, which later got recognized as traditional Cuban elements with modern jazz. He then joined Arturo Sandoval’s group from 1981 to 1990. Afterwards, he initiated a group in that year called Perspectiva. He went on tour in Central America and Europe. In the meantime, he also became a part of Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra and Michel Legrand. Durán immigrated to Canada in 1998 and focused on working as a solo artist in Toronto. Since then, he was recognized and celebrated as a Grammy–nominated and a winner of multiple Juno awards. ‘

In 2009, he was acknowledged as one of the ten most influential Hispanic Canadians. Toronto Musicians’ Association titled him the Best Artist of the Year in 2013 and, in 2014, the Best Vision Award Winner (Premio a la Trayectoria). It also collected multiple Canadian National Jazz Awards from Latin Jazz USA, including the 2007 Chico O’Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award. He went on to win big by bagging the Louis Applebaum Composers Award from the Ontario Arts Foundation. He teaches piano and works as an ensemble director at Humber College in Toronto.