Jorge Martín (born 1959) is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

.''The Miami Herald'': Before escaping Cuba, he was jailed for being outspoken and gay. Now, an opera tells his story:http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article137738103.html

Early life and studies

Jorge Martín was born in

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

, Cuba, and established his residence in the United States at an early age. He studied at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Cintas foundation: Jorge Martín: http://www.cintasfoundation.org/fellows/composers and at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, where he earned a

Master of Music The Master of Music (MM or MMus) is, as an academic title, the first graduate degree in music awarded by universities and conservatories. The MM combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization (usually performance in singing or i ...

and a

Doctor of Music The Doctor of Music degree (DMus, DM, MusD or occasionally MusDoc) is a doctorate awarded on the basis of a substantial portfolio of compositions, musical performances, and/or scholarly publications on music. In some institutions, the award is a ...

in composition.

Work

His

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

'' Before Night Falls'', based on the 1992 autobiography of the same name by Cuban writer

Reinaldo Arenas Reinaldo Arenas (July 16, 1943 – December 7, 1990) was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright who is known as a vocal critic of Fidel Castro, the Cuban Revolution, and the Cuban government. His memoir of the Cuban dissident movement and of bei ...

, was given its world premiere at the

Fort Worth Opera Fort Worth Opera is the oldest continually-performing opera company in the state of Texas and among the oldest in the United States, according to the company. While originally presenting operas one at a time over a fall/winter season, it changed ...

in June 2010. The Fort Worth Opera released a recording of the opera on

Albany Records Albany Records is a record label that concentrates on unconventional contemporary classical music by American composers and musicians. It was established by Peter Kermani in 1987 and is based in Albany, New York. In May 2024, Albany Records wa ...

. Albany also released another recording of Martin's compositions entitled ''Cello Music'' in 2012. Other compositions include "Beast and Superbeast", a set of four one-act operas based on short stories by

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

; a Saxophone Quartet and Four Dances for Bassoon and String Quartet, which had its world premiere in Finland in July 1997.

Awards

In 2005, Martín received a fellowship award from the Bogliasco Foundation in Genoa. He is also the recipient of an

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

' Academy Award in Music, an

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

Standard Music Award, an artist's residency at

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

in Saratoga Springs in 1993, Cintas for music in 1999 and a CINTAS Foundation "Brandon Fradd Fellowship in music composition" in 2011. His one-act opera ''Tobermory'' won first prize in 1993 in the National Opera Association's Fifth Biennial Chamber Opera Competition and has been performed in several cities in the United States.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Jorge 1959 births 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American classical composers 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American classical composers American opera composers Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Cuban classical composers Cuban emigrants to the United States Living people American male opera composers Musicians from Santiago de Cuba