Louis Franz Aguirre (born in

Camagüey Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 321,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province. It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by S ...

, Cuba, 1968) is a Cuban composer and conductor that has achieved international recognition.

Academic background

Louis Aguirre studied musical composition with

Harold Gramatges Harold Gramatges (26 September 1918 – 16 December 2008) was a Cuban composer, pianist, and teacher. Gramatges was born in Santiago, Cuba. In 1941, he entered the conservatory in Santiago de Cuba to study under professor Dulce María Serret ...

Roberto Valera Roberto Valera Chamizo (b. Havana, 1938) is a Cuban composer and pedagogue that has a made a substantial contribution to the development of music in Cuba.The living composers project. Roberto Valera. http://www.composers21.com/compdocs/valerar.htm ...

and Tulio Peramo, as well as violin and conducting at the Havana Instituto Superior de Arte. He received a BA in musical composition in 1991. He also underwent postgraduate composition studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in The Netherlands from 2002 to 2004, studying the composition postgraduate program: "Contemporary music through non-Western Techniques" with professor R. Reina, and at the Århus Royal Conservatory in Denmark from 2004 to 2005 with Karl Aage Rasmussen,

Rolf Wallin Rolf Wallin (born 7 September 1957) is a Norwegian composer, trumpeter and avant-garde performance artist. Biography Wallin was born in Oslo, where he studied with Finn Mortensen and Olav Anton Thommessen. He later studied at the University of Ca ...

and

Hans Abrahamsen Hans Abrahamsen (born 23 December 1952) is a Danish composer born in Kongens Lyngby near Copenhagen. His '' Let me tell you'' (2013), a song cycle for soprano and orchestra, was ranked by music critics at ''The Guardian'' as the finest work of t ...

Work as composer

Louis Aguirre works as a full-time composer since he moved to Europe in 2002, where he has received numerous commissions. Aguirre has written works for numerous prestigious performers and ensembles such as Ere Lievonen, Enric Monfort, Adam Ørvad, Carlos Gálvez, Juanjo Guillem, Mikkel Andersen, Barbara Lueneburg, Karolina Leedo, Axyz Ensemble, Arbós Trío, Snow Mask Ensemble, Kimbala Percussion Group, DuoMetrie, Verso Duo, Havana Symphony Orchestra, Santiago Symphony Orchestra, Camagüey Symphony Orchestra, the

Arditti Quartet The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974 and led by the British violinist Irvine Arditti. The quartet is a globally recognized promoter of contemporary classical music and has a reputation for having a very wide repertoire. T ...

, TANA String Quartet, Residencias Ensemble, Neopercusión and Colectivo Neo. His music has been performed at numerous festivals and venues in Europe, China, the USA and South and Latin America, such as the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt, Germany, SUSÅ Contemporary Music Festival, Denmark, Granada Festival Internacional de Música y Danza, Spain, Liubliana Festival, Slovenia, Summartónar, Faroe Islands and Amsterdam Gaudeamus Week, Netherlands. Aguirre’s music has been broadcast by Spanish, German, Danish, Cuban and Dutch radio and TV stations. His ample catalog includes opera, orchestral and chamber music, solo pieces, as well as choral, and vocal music.

Work as conductor

From 1995 to 2000, Louis Aguirre served as principal conductor and artistic director of the

Symphony Orchestra in Cuba. He worked also as guest conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Havana and the Symphony Orchestra of Santiago de Cuba.

Work as professor

Also from 1995 to 2000, Aguirre was designated as professor of the

Music Conservatory and Founder, chairman and artistic director of the International Festival of Contemporary Music in the same city.

Books and essays on Louis Aguirre and his music

*Hernández Isabelle. 2001. Aguirre, enfant terrible. The Granma newspaper, Saturday, October 20, 2001. *Morales Flores, Iván César. 2005. Ebbó: Estudio analítico de una ópera de Louis Aguirre. Thesis, Havana Superior Institute of Arts. *Morales Flores, Iván Cesar. 2008. Ebbó: del rito al simulacro, in Boletín de Música #21/ Enero- Marzo/ Revista de Música Latinoamericana y Caribeña, Casa de las Américas. *Molerio Rosa, Arleti María. 2009. La producción musical del compositor Louis Aguirre Rovira en el presente de la música de cámara académica cubana. Revista Variaciones #1, Universidad Estatal de Cuenca, Ecuador. *Albertson Dan. April 2010. La Folia, Online Music Review. "Qualche tedeschi, qualche gaijin". (review on CD Verso, "IBEYI".) *Santacecilia María. July 2010. Mundo Clásico: Nadar en ríos metafísicos. Spain. *Morales Flores, Iván Cesar. November 2011. Louis Aguirre, una inusual confluencia sonora de ritos y culturas, in Musiker.18, 2011. Spain

*Santana, Ernesto. March 31, 2014. CUBANET: Hasta donde me lleven los dioses

*Durán-Loriga, Jacobo. December 26, 2014. Sulponticello: Arrebato festivo: 20 años de Neopercusión

*O’Bannon, Ricky. December, 2014. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: 5 Cuban Composers to watch.

References

External links

* Louis Franz Aguirre – Composer – website:

* Ochosi – Arditti Quartet – YouTube �

* Añá - AXYZ Ensemble conducted by Jos Zwaanenburg – Soloist Enric Monfort – YouTube �

* Añá - Axyz Ensemble conducted by Jos Zwaanenburg – Soloist Enric Monfort – (Fragment) - YouTube

Yalodde yeyé kari! - Shadanga Duo – YouTube �

* Orula – Neopercusión – Soloist – Karolina Leedo – YouTube

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aguirre, Louis Franz 1968 births Cuban composers Living people 21st-century classical composers Cuban male classical composers 21st-century Cuban male musicians Conservatorium van Amsterdam alumni