Aldemaro Romero (1928-2007)
A composer and exceptionally talented pianist who helped
increase the international popularity of Venezuelan music. He was born in
Valencia and was trained in music by his father. He began his musical career at the age of 10,
and in 1941 began playing and composing for Alfonso Larrain’s orchestra in
Caracas. He worked for the RCA Victor
record label, beginning in 1948, after moving to New York. He composed choir music, orchestras, waltzes,
and jazz, and was an innovator in Venezuelan music and symphonic
composition.
Conny Mendez (1898-1979)
Also known as Juana Maria de la Concepcion, her name by
birth, Conny Mendez was the daughter of the poet Eugenio Mendez in
Caracas. She studied at the New School
of Music in New York City, in the 1920s.
She was an actor, caricature artist, and composer of popular and folk
music. Aside from her musical and
artistic career, she is known for her close affiliation with the European
occultist Count Saint-Germain, and for founding the Christian Metaphysics
movement in Venezuela, for which she published many works.
Eduardo Marturet (1953 - Present)
Born in Caracas, and educated in Cambridge, England where he
studied conducting, composition, and percussion. He helped to preserve Venezuelan music
programs by enabling private funding, whereas funding had previously been
sourced exclusively through the state.
Marturet was associate conductor of the Caracas PO; conductor of the
Venezuela SO; supporter of the Venezuelan Narional Youth Orchestra; the first
Music Director of the Teresa Carreno Theatre in Caracas; and a guest conductor
with 12 different European orchestras.
Moises Moleiro (1904 - 1979)
Born in Zaraza, where he studied piano with Manuel Martin
Sanson, Moises Moleiro took lessons in piano from Salvador Narciso Llamozas,
and in harmony with Vicente Emilio Sojo.
He composed for chamber and orchestra, and combined Venezuelan and
traditional European styles. Moleiro
received all of his his musical education in Venezuela, and is particularly
famous for composing “Joropo”, a Venezuelan folk dance which he adapted to
piano, and which is the Venezuelan national dance.
Antonio Estevez (1916-1988)
Born in Calaboza, and studying music since the age of 9, he
began performing in a village band, playing the saxophone. He studied oboe in Caracas with Vicente
Emilio Sojo, with whom he collaborated, along with Juan Bautista Plaza. He studied at Columbia University with Leonard
Bernstein and others. Estevez experienced
musical transformation, having decided that the music he had been involved in
making was old-fashioned and outdated.
He switched his focus to electronic music, which he studied in
Paris. He taught at the National School
of Music in Caracas.
Alfonso Tenreiro (1965-Present)
Alfonso Tenreiro studied in Caracas, where he was born, and
had taken music lessons and formed a rock band as a child. He finished high school in the United States
and then studied at Indiana University, where he worked as an organist and
composed his own original works. He won
the Utah Arts Festival Award, the Venezuelan Biannual Prize of Composition Jose
Angel, the Composer Commission of the Utah Arts Festival, and first place in
the Composers Competition in Venezuela. Tenreiro’s
style combines tradition and folklore with classical and contemporary
styles.
Juan Bautista Plaza (1898-1965)
Juan Bautista Plaza was born in Caracas. He studied with Jesus Maria Suarez in his
youth, led his school choir and taught music at the Caracas French School while
he was still a student there. At
University, he studied medicine and law, before being awarded a scholarship to
the Scuola Superiore di Musica Sacra, in Rome, where he became a Master of
Sacred Composition. After returning to
Caracas, he became choirmaster of the cathedral, during which his artistic
output was at its greatest. At the
Escuela Nacional de Musica he taught music history. When a large amount of colonial music was
discovered in 1935, Plaza worked hard to catalog it all. He wrote about music for newspapers and spoke
on the radio, with the aim of informing ordinary people and not just fellow
musicians. He began the Escuela
Preparatoria de Musica, an important music school in Venezuela.
Teresa Carreno (1853-1917)
Teresa Carreno showed musical talent from a very young
age. Her father was the politician,
Manuel Antonio, whose own father was a famous composer. She trained with Mathias, Louis Moreau
Gottschalk, and Anton Rubinstein. Her
parents moved to New York when she was eight, to give her more opportunities,
and she soon began giving performances and studying with Gottschalk. In 1863, she performed at the White House for
Abraham Lincoln. Her family moved to
Europe in 1866, settling in Paris. That
year, her mother died of cholera. She
lived in London for a while, and moved back home to Venezuela in 1885. She toured the world twice and had three
unsuccessful marriages to various musicians.
Vicente Emilio Sojo (1887-1974)
Vicente Emilio Sojo was born in Guatire, Venezuela and
studied music with Regulo Rico. He later
studied composition with Primo Moschini, after moving to Caracas. He served as director of the National School
of Music, and was elected as a senator for two terms. He founded the Symphony Orchestra of
Venezuela and wrote children’s books. He
was instrumental in the preservation of over 200 Venezuelan folk songs.
Federico Ruiz (1889-1961)
Federico Ruiz Studied with Vicente Emilio Sojo, whose
Venezuelan nationalist style influenced him.
He was director of the Canaclare vocal ensemble and won the Jose Angel
Lamas National Prize for orchestral composition, among other regional
prizes. His compositions blended European
influences, modern styles, and Venezuelan nationalistic styles, as well as
Caribbean folk-popular tradition.
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