Sunday, March 10, 2013

Venezuelan Composers of Historical Significance

By William Harrison



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. 

Works Cited:

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Modern Bands / Musicians in Venezuela

By Ilana Mayes

Franco De Vita
Franco De Vita (1954-Present) is a solo singer-songwriter who is very well known in Venezuela. He has a very successful album named Extranjero. One of his songs from this album climbed to the No. 1 spot in the U.S. Latin charts as well as winning a MTV VMA. He also saw later success with more albums and his collaborations with famous Latin musicians such as Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, and Gloria Estefan.

"Mi Sueno" by Franco De Vita

à Works Cited: 1. http://francodevita.com/
Gustavo Dudamel & Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela
Gustavo Dudamel (1981-Present) is the current musical director of the famous and successful Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. Along with conducting and coordinating the orchestra, he is extremely successful in other areas of Latin music with tours in South America and the U.S. This Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra was first started in 1975, and started out as a predominant youth orchestra. Its original goal was to help give poor children an opportunity to gain success and knowledge through music, and has been successful in that for years.
 
"Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10" by Gustavo Dudamel / Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela

Extra

Friday, March 8, 2013

The Venezuelan Carnival


By Erin Barker

Carnival is one of the most anticipated events of the year in Venezuela. The festival takes place in the month of February, 40 days before Good Friday. Carnival has been celebrated in Venezuela since the colonial times, especially in the city of Caracas. In present day Venezuela Carnival has lost its importance in major cities and is more celebrated in coastal towns. El Callao holds the most popular Carnival in Venezuela. It was established in 1853, and was originally referred to as Caratel. Carnival in Venezuela is celebrated just like Christmas or Semana Santa (Holy Week). 

The festival consists of two - four days full of confetti, costumes, parades, games, and family activities. Throughout the festival Venezuela is lit up and decorated. In Callao festival goers enjoy dressing up in costumes of royal courts: kings, queens, couriers, and jesters. Also, some participants are known to dress in modern day movie and cartoon character costumes. One thing to beware of when attending Carnival activities is that carnival goers like to throw water balloons, some of which may have been frozen and filled with ice.