Juan Orrego-Salas

Juan Orrego-Salas – Founder and Director of the LAMC (1961-1987) Catalog / Discography / Bibliography / Writings on the composer and his work Juan Orrego-Salas is one of the most important figures in the history of contemporary Latin American music. He has contributed as a musician to diverse areas of music, especially as a composer and musicologist. He has worked extensively in both scholarly and administrative fields, serving as one of the founders of the Escuela Moderna de Música, creator and first director of the music department of the Universidad Católica de Chile, and founder of the Latin American Music Center of Indiana University in the United States. Orrego-Salas was born in Santiago, Chile, in January 1919. He began his initial education and training as a musician in his native city, later studying and obtaining his diploma in architecture in 1943. By that time he had completed his undergraduate work in composition with Pedro Humberto Allende and Domingo Santa Cruz, and was teaching history and literature of music at the Universidad de Chile and conducting the Universidad Católica de Chile, which he established in 1938. In 1944 he abandoned his work as an architect to dedicate his time fully to music. This period in his life started with a two year residence in the United States, first as a Rockefeller Foundation grantee and later as a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow. He studied composition with Aaron Copland in Tanglewood and at the universities of Virginia and Princeton with Randall Thompson, as well as musicology with Paul Henry Lang and Georg Herzog at Columbia University. In 1947 he returned to his home country as full music faculty professor of the Universidad de Chile and as choral conductor at the Universidad Católica. In 1949 he traveled to Europe as a guest of the British Council and the French and Italian governments. On this tour he conducted the world première performance of his Canciones castellanas, Op. 20, selected for the XXIII Festival of the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) held in Palermo and Taormina, Sicily. Upon his return from Europe he accepted the editorship of the Revista Musical Chilena and in 1950 became the music critic of El mercurio, Chile's leading morning paper. An uninterrupted dedication to composition resulted in continuous performances of his works in Chile and abroad; he received many commissions to write compositions for orchestra and a variety of chamber ensembles. In 1953 the Universidad de Chile conferred upon him the title of Profesor Extraordinario (Distinguished Professor) of composition, and the following year he returned to the United States and spent a year composing in New York, making use of a second Guggenheim Fellowship. He then returned to Chile to become the director of the Instituto de Extensión Musical, the organization under whose leadership the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, the Ballet Nacional Chileno, and a number of choral and chamber ensembles operated. After two years in this position he resigned to become the founder and first director of the Departamento de Música (now Instituto de Música) of the Universidad Católica in Santiago. He remained in this position until 1961 and after a twenty year career as a member of the music faculty of the Universidad de Chile, he was granted a partial retirement and returned to the United States, this time to establish and direct the Latin American Music Center and teach composition at the School of Music of Indiana University, in Bloomington. After serving twenty-seven years at Indiana University, including a period between 1975 and 1980 as chairman of the composition department, he retired in 1987 as “Professor Emeritus.” As a composer he was on four occasions the winner of prizes in the Festivales de Música Chilena (1948, 1950, 1952, 1998) and twice recipient of the Olga Cohen Prize (1956, 1958) in his home country. He was granted the title of Doctor “Honoris Causa” by the Universidad Católica (1971) and named Corresponding Member of the Chilean Academy of Fine Arts and Distinguish Professor by the Pontificia Universidad Católica of Valparaiso, Chile (1999). In 1992 he received the Premio Nacional, the highest recognition conferred by the Chilean Government to its artists, writers, scientists, and historians. In the international realm the Organization of American States in Washington D.C. granted him in 1988 the Premio Interamericano de Cultura Gabriela Mistral. One of his frequent returns to Chile was in November 2005 to attend the presentation of his book Encuentros, visions y repasos: Capítulos en el camino de mi música y mi vida, in part memoirs and a chronicle of his thoughts and ideas on music in general as well as reflections on his own work as a creator. He then attended a concert of two of his major works by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile conducted by his son Juan Felipe Orrego. Orrego-Salas received commissions from the Koussevitzky, Coolidge, Kindler, Wechsler, Riley, and Stieren foundations; the Lousville Orchestra and the National Symphony of Washington. D.C.; Cornell, Miami, Trinity, and Santa María universities; the National Endowment for the Arts and the Inter-American Music Council in the United States; the Frei Foundation and the Colegio de Arquitectos in Chile, and numerous chamber music ensembles, soloists, and individuals. As a teacher and lecturer he appeared in many universities, colleges, and cultural institutes in Chile and the United States, as well as in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, France, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela, and the former Yugoslavia, and he participated in several international meetings.

Titles:

• 1965 R00576 – Alboradas, Op. 56 for SSA Chorus, Harp, Piano and Three Percussion
• 1948 X816207 – Cantos de Advenimiento, Op. 25 for Mezzo-Soprano, Cello and Piano
• 1967 X940013 – Pidiole a Narciso from Three Madrigals, Op. 62
• 1998 X412017 – Cantango, Op. 116
• 2001 X624507 – Secuencias, Op. 120 for Alto Saxophone and Percussion
• 1976 R00586 – The Days of God, Op. 73
• 1997 X505003 – Encuentros Op. 114
• 1972 R00599 – Presencias, Op. 72
• 1986 S550001 – Variations on a Chant Op. 92
• 1972 X622502 – Serenata, Op. 70 for Flute and Cello
• 1992 R00592 – La Ciudad Celeste (The Celestial City), Op. 105
• 1978 X940011 – De Los Montes Vengo from Romances Pastorales, Op. 10
• 1984 X502006 – Glosas, Op. 91 for Violin and Guitar
• 1977 X503013 – Trio No. 2, Op. 75
• 1996 R01272 – Symphony No. 6, Op. 112 “Semper Reditus”
• 1987 X062001 – Midsummer Diversions for Cello and Tuba
• 1971 R00612 – Volte, Op. 67
• R00584 – Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, Op. 104
• 1979 X065011 – De Profundis for Tuba and Four Cellos
• 1967 X940014 – Amarilis from Three Madrigals, Op. 62
• 1945/1971 X502007 – Sonata a duo, Op. 11
• 2001/ 2004 X511032 – Turns and Returns (Vueltas y Revueltas), Op. 121
• 1946 X940009 – Romance a lo Divino, Op. 7
• 1995 R00982 – Three Canticos Sagrados, Op. 108: Three Sacred Songs for SATB Chorus and Chamber Ensemble
• 1982 R00579 – Bolivar, Op. 81
• 1994 X205016 – Three Fanfares, Op. 107 (Tres Fanfarrias)
• 1960 R00608 – The Tumbler’s Prayer, Op. 48
• 1954 R00602 – Serenata Concertante, Op. 40
• 1995 X504030 – String Quartet No. 2, Op. 110
• 1984 R00578 – Ash Wednesday, Op. 88
• 1952 R00582 – Concierto de Camara, Op. 34
• 1961 R00605 – Symphony No. 3, Op. 50
• 1988 X064007 – Partita, Op. 100 for Alto Saxophone and Piano Trio
• 1966 R00606 – Symphony No. 4, Op. 59: Of the Distant Answer
• 1986 R00589 – Fantasia for Piano and Wind Orchestra, Op. 95
• 1949 R00603 – Symphony No. 1, Op. 26
• 1954 R00604 – Symphony No. 2, Op. 39
• 1971 X800016 – Palabras de Don Quijote, Op. 66 for Baritone Voice and Piano
• 2000 R01276 – Fantasias, Op. 119
• 1951 R00609 – Umbral Del Sueno, Op. 30
• 1971 R00610 – Variaciones Serenas, Op. 69
• 2001 R01273 – Concerto Grosso, Op. 122
• 1969 R00593 – Missa, Op. 64 (Mass “In Tempore Discordiae”)
• 1983 R00611 – Violin Concerto, Op. 86
• 1977 X814004 – Psalms, Op. 74
• 1995 R01271 – Symphony No. 5, Op. 109
• 2003 X065030 – Movimiento Concertante, Op. 123 for Alto Saxophone and String Quartet
• 1984 S520001 – A Greeting Cadenza for William Primrose, Op. 65
• 1987 R00588 – Fanfare for Large Orchestra, Op. 97
• 1985 R00597 – Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 93
• 1966 R00577 – America, No en Vano Invocamos Tu Nombre, Op. 57
• S111009 – Sonata de Estio, op. 71
• 1978 X094008 – Romances Pastorales, Op. 10
• 1978 X940010 – Las Flores Del Romero from Romances Pastorales, Op. 10
• 1971 R00595 – Palabras de Don Quijote, Op. 66 for Baritone and Chamber Ensemble
• 1962 R00583 – Concerto a Tre, Op. 52
• 1967 X940015 – Moca Tan Fermosa from Three Madrigals, Op. 62
• 1980 R00594 – Concerto for Oboe and String Orchestra, Op. 77
• 1984 S531001 – Balada, Op. 84
• 1984 X816505 – Cinco Canciones a Seis, Op. 87 for Mezzo-Soprano, Clarinet, Two Violins, Cello, and Piano
• 1984 X410011 – Rondo – Fantasia, Op. 90
• 1946 R00580 – Cantata de Navidad, Op. 13
• 1982 R00607 – Tangos, Op. 82
• 1991 X412008 – Diferencias del Retablo
• 1986 R00600 – Riley’s Merriment, Op. 94
• 2000 X430010 – Toccata ed Arioso, Op. 118
• 1990 R01083 – Widows (Viudas), Op. 101
• 1978 X940012 – En Un Pastoral Albergue from Romances Pastorales, Op. 10
• S131002 – Variations for a Quiet Man Op. 79
• 1967 X094009 – Three Madrigals, Op. 62
• 2003 X054032 – String Quartet No. 3, Op. 124 (Cuarteto de Cuerdas)
• 2003 X054033 – String Quartet No. 4, Op. 125
• 1950 R00598 – Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 28
• 1946 R00587 – Escenas de Cortes y Pastores, Op. 19: Seven Symphonic Scenes
• 1999 R01270 – Introduccion y Allegro Concertante, Op. 117
• 1981 X815001 – Canciones in Popular Style, Op. 80 for Soprano and Guitar (2 performance scores)
• 1998 X531019 – Espacios, Op. 115: A Rhapsody for Cello and Piano
• 1956 R00591 – Jubilaeus Musicus, Op. 45
• 1978 R00585 – El Retablo del Rey Pobre (The Dawn of the Poor King)