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Juana, la loca
Putzi

EDUARDO ALONSO-CRESPO

    Argentine-born composer and conductor Eduardo Alonso-Crespo was trained at the School of Musical Arts of the National University of Tucumán in Argentina, where he also received his Civil Engineer degree. He later came to the United States through a Fulbright Grant and obtained his Master degree in Conducting at Carnegie Mellon University, after studying with maestros Lukas Foss, Leonardo Balada and Samuel Jones. Further training included seminars and workshops with maestros Max Rudolf, Gunther Schuller and Henry Holt.

    His works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Brasil, Argentina, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, Israel, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Poland, Ucrania, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and France, and at prestigious locations including the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, the Madeleine Church in Paris, the De Doelen Grand Hall in Rotterdam, the Teatro Teresa Carreño in Caracas, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and the Queluz Royal Palace in Lisbon. His music has been featured in concerts by the Buenos Aires Philharmonic and the National Symphony Orchestra of Argentina, the Pittsburgh Symphony Nuance Series, the Sudets Philarmonie of Poland, the Orquesta Metropolitana of Lisbon, Portugal, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Orquesa Sinfónica de Chile, the Orquesta Sinfónica Universidad de Concepción of Chile, the Orchestre Sinfonietta de Paris, France, the Mikkeli City Orchestra, Finland, the Orquesta Clásica of Santiago, Chile, the Falcón Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela; chamber ensembles like Philharmonische Virtuosen Berlin, Camerata de México, Camerata Lysy, Camerata Lazarte, Carnegie Mellon Contemporary Ensemble, Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, American Composers Orchestra String Quartet, Cuarteto Clásico Argentino; choral ensembles like the Saint Olaf Choir of U.S.A., Kammerchor Ettlingen of Germany, World Youth Choir, National Youth Choir of Argentina, Ars Nova Choir of Argentina; and organizations like Orquesta de Cámara Mayo, Orquesta Municipal de Córdoba, Orquesta de Cámara Municipal de Rosario, Córdoba Symphonic Band, the Argentine National Youth Orchestra and the Tucumán, Rosario, San Juan, Mendoza, Salta and Córdoba Symphony Orchestras in Argentina.

    His compositions have been awarded more than a dozen national and international awards from Argentine, Spanish and Italian institutions. The list includes the Alejandro Shaw First Prize from the National Academy of Fine Arts of Argentina, together with the two Honorary Mentions especially created by the jury on that occasion (1981), the Second Prize from the Fundación San Telmo Composers Competition (1982), the First Prize of the First Competition of the Promúsica Foundation and the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1983), the Second Composition Prize from the National University of La Plata Composers Competition (1983), the First and Second Prizes - simultaneously - in the Luis Gianneo Composers Competition (1983), the Cristóbal Colón International Prize for Symphonic Music (1986), the Third Prize in the Viotti-Valsesia International Competition (1986), the Honorary Mention from the Secretary of Culture of Argentina (1987), the Symphonic Commission Award from the National Endowment for the Arts of Argentina (1987), the Iris Marga Award for Best Music for Theatre (1994) and the First Composition Prize of the Bahía Blanca Symphony Orchestra (1994). Among other distinctions he was honored as Musician of the Year (Salta, Argentina, 1990) and Distinguished Citizen (Tucumán, Argentina, 1998).

    Due to the chronological inversion of the artistic seasons between the Northern and Southern hemispheres, Alonso-Crespo has served as Music Director of the Tucumán Symphony Orchestra in Argentina and Music Director of the Carnegie Mellon Contemporary Ensemble in the U.S.A. for twelve years. He keeps an intensive schedule as guest conductor, with engagements with most of Argentine orchestras as well as orchestras and ensembles in Chile, Mexico, the United States, Portugal and France. In previous seasons he has been Resident Conductor at Carnegie Mellon University, Associate Conductor of the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, Assistant Conductor of the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra, Music Director of the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble, Visitor Lecturer of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University, Composer in Residence and Principal Guest Conductor of the Salta Symphony Orchestra in Argentina, and Music Director of the Orquesta Estable de Tucumán in Argentina, the orchestra of the Tucumán Opera and Ballet Theatre. In 1998 he made his debut at the prestigious Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires with a much acclaimed performance of Mahler's Fourth Symphony. Among his most recent conducting activities, Alonso-Crespo has recorded for the Naxos label leading the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville, Spain, in February of 2005.

    Besides composing chamber and symphonic music, he has produced an important number of works for the stage; among them the ballet Medea (staged in 1985), the incidental music for Macbeth - winner of the 1994 Iris Marga Award in Argentina for best original score for drama - and the operas Putzi (staged in 2004), based on an anecdote from Franz Liszt´s life, and Juana, la loca (staged in 1991), composed for the 500 Anniversary of the Discovery of America. These last two operas had Claudio Aprile as régisseur and choreographer. In 1986 he was invited to present an opera and a ballet for the First Buenos Aires Summer Festival and in that same year he received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts of Argentina to compose his second opera. More recently, in 2006, his First Symphony was chosen as mandatory work for the VIII International Course for Conductors of the Concepción Symphony Orchestra in Chile, Luis Gorelik Artistic Director.

    His music is recorded on CD by the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra (Overtures and Dances form Operas by Alonso-Crespo), the Camerata Lazarte (Macbeth), the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble (Epic Dances), the Ars Nova Children and Youth Choir (Pachamama), and Andrea Merenzon and members of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic (Concerto for bassoon and orchestra). His most recent conducting for compact disc - the recording of Leonardo Balada's Divertimentos with the Carnegie Mellon Contemporary Ensemble for Albany Records - received a most enthusiastic review from Fanfare magazine.