Biography

Miguel del Aguila

Biography

An internationally recognized compositional voice and talent, Miguel del Aguila creates fresh, spontaneous music often colored by Latin and World Music idioms, and with a healthy respect for the classical tradition and form. What results is a captivating interplay of classical balance and romantic excess. His penchant for devising programs for his own works further enhances his highly dramatic style in which musical ideas, always simple and recognizable, are pushed to extremes by propulsive rhythms and adventurous instrumentation.

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay; American composer Miguel del Aguila moved to the US in 1978. After graduating from The San Francisco Conservatory of Music he traveled to Vienna to further studies at the Hochschule fur Musik and Konservatorium der Stadt Wien. After ten years of intense work in Europe he returned to the US in 1992. Numerous premieres of his works followed, and in 1994 Los Angeles Times critics chose him "resident music man of the year" and "One of the West Coast's most promising and enterprising young composers". Soon after he was honored with a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award and several California Arts Council Fellowships and Residencies. He was recently Composer in Residence with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra through a Meet The Composer's Extended Residences Grant and is currently working throught a Magnum Opus Grant with Nashville, Virginia, Buffalo and Winnipeg symphony orchestras. He also received several Meet The Composer Awards, Lancaster Symphony Composer of the Year Award 2008, City of Ventura Fellowships, Olympiad Of The Arts Prize, AEMUS, and Jeunesses Musicales awards. Most recently his works received the support of The Peter S. Reed Foundation, Music Alive program, The Copland Fundation, and the Argosy Foundation for Contemporary Music.

An active pianist, Miguel del Aguila soloed with several orchestras. His 1980's debut concerts at Carnegie Recital Hall and Merkin Hall in NY, and at Konzerthaus and Bösendorfer Hall in Vienna, marked the beginning of his busy international career. An occasional conductor of his works, he guest-conducted several ensembles and was music director of Ojai Camerata, CA from 1995-'99. From 2000 to '04 he was resident composer at the Chautauqua Institution, NY.

Aguila's catalog of close to 100 works includes opera, orchestral, choral, solo, chamber and theater/film works. To this date, over 50 orchestras, 200 chamber ensembles and an even larger number of soloists include his music in their repertoire. Their performances from some of the world's major concert halls, and from over 50 international festivals, are often broadcast worldwide via internet, radio and TV. Aguila’s music is widely available on 20 CD's and published by Peermusic since 1986, (Theodore Presser distributor).

now playing:
Ave Maria from Barelas Choral Suite