- Carlos Surinach
Carlos Surinach (Carles Suriñach) (
Barcelona ,Spain ,March 4 ,1915 -New Haven, Connecticut ,United States ,November 12 ,1997 ), pronounced IPA| [suɾi'ŋak] , was a Catalan Spanish-born composer and conductor.He was born in Barcelona, where he held conducting posts at the
Barcelona Philharmonic and theGran Teatre del Liceu . He studied composition withEnrique Morera at theBarcelona Conservatory , then went to Germany, where he studied inBerlin withMax Trapp , and also withRichard Strauss , taking five of Strauss's seminars. In 1948 hisopera "El mozo que caso con mujer brava" premiered inBarcelona . In 1951, he emigrated to the United States, where he became a successful composer for the dance. He became a U.S. citizen in 1959. He composed three ballet scores for the renowned choreographerMartha Graham : "Embattled Garden" (1958), "Acrobats of God" (1960) and "The Owl and the Pussycat" (1978). He also composed for theJoffrey Ballet ("Feast of Ashes").Surinach also orchestrated part of
Isaac Albeniz 's piano suite "Iberia".His notable students include
Louis W. Ballard .The
BMI Foundation sponsors The Carlos Surinach Awards and Commissioning Programs, which recognizes talented emerging young musicians for their service to American music and funds the creation of new works by former winners of the BMI Student Composer Awards. The program was established by a bequest from Surinach. [http://bmifoundation.org/pages/CSurinach.asp]The final "ch" in Surinach's surname is pronounced "k," following ancient Catalan
orthography (in modern orthography this phoneme is rendered with a "c"). The "ch" ending is commonly found in Catalan surnames, many of which retain this spelling. Also, before Surinach left Spain, his surname was spelled "Suriñach," with atilde over the "n". He eventually dropped this tilde, but saw the original spelling used on concert posters whenever he visited Spain.Works
* "Paeans and Dances of Heathen Iberia"
External links
* [http://www.schirmer.com/default.aspx?TabId=2419&State_2872=2&ComposerId_2872=1543 Carlos Surinach page] from Schirmer site
* [http://www.bmifoundation.org/pages/CSurinach.asp Carlos Surinach Commissions page] from BMI siteInterviews
* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/surinach2.html Carlos Surinach interview] by Bruce Duffie
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