Description
Composers Xavier Beteta (Guatemala), Josh Rodriguez (Colombia/USA), and Richard Scofano (Argentina), will offer three world premieres – a rich sonic feast presenting eclectic aesthetics that draw inspiration from classical, contemporary, and Latin American dance and folk music. A celebration of music by Chicago-based composers from Central and South America to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, this concert of new piano trio music performed by Stephen Uhl, Brian Ostrega, and Brian Gaona.
More about the Artists:
Josh Rodríguez:
Known for his energetic rhythms, rich harmonic language, and striking colors, Colombian-American composer Josh Rodríguez (b. 1982) continues to gain recognition as an emerging composer and collaborator on a national and international scale. Born in Argentina and raised in Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States, Rodríguez’s musical imagination has been formed by this bilingual multicultural heritage.
Rodríguez collaborates regularly with theatre and film directors and has received notable concert commissions in a wide range of musical genres: works include Dos Palabras (winner of the inaugural Springfield Chamber Chorus Composition Competition 2022), When Stone Becomes Forest (winner of THE AMERICAN PRIZE – Professional Band Division 2022), Partita Picosa (a 5-movement piece for solo piano), Contra Spem Spero (violin chamber concerto), and That Crazed Girl Improvising (piano trio), all which were finalists for the AMERICAN PRIZE (TIKAL, for concert band received Honorable Mention, 2021).
Guatemalan-American composer Xavier Beteta was born in Guatemala City where he studied piano at the National Conservatory with Consuelo Medinilla. At age 18, he was awarded the first-prize at the Augusto Ardenois National Piano Competition and third-prize at the Rafael Alvarez Ovalle Composition Competition in Guatemala. Xavier has performed in different venues in the United States, Europe and Latin America and has been a soloist with the Guatemalan National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Augusto Ardenois, and the Camellia Symphony in Sacramento.
As a composer, Xavier did most of his studies privately with Rodrigo Asturias. In 2013 he won the Silver Medal at the fourth International Antonin Dvorak Composition Competition in Prague. Xavier studied music theory at the University of Cincinnati where his thesis was ranked no. 4 in the National Best-Seller Dissertation List. He obtained his Ph.D. in composition at the University of California San Diego where he studied with Roger Reynolds, Philippe Manoury, and Chinary Ung. His compositions have been performed in diverse festivals such as Festival Musica in Strasbourg, France, Darmstadt Composition Summer Courses in Germany, June in Buffalo, SICPP in Boston, Opera Theater Festival of Lucca, Italy and by ensembles such as Accroche Note, Ensemble SoundScape, Ensemble Signal conducted by Brad Lubman, UCSD Palimpsest, the Mivos Quartet, Formosa Quartet, The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players under Steven Schick, the Guatemalan National Symphony and the Camellia Symphony.
A master of the bandoneón, Richard Scofano was born in Paso de los Libres, Argentina, and is the descendant of three generations of bandoneonists. Beyond his renowned virtuosity, musicality and sensibility, Scofano is also an accomplished composer, arranger, and musical director. He began his studies at age five, with his father, Ricardo Scofano, himself a landmark in the Argentine musical genre of the Chamamé. Richard grew up in the center of the folk traditions and culture of Northeast Argentina in a home constantly filled with musicians and singers.
With forty years of professional work, Scofano has taken his music literally throughout the world and has played throughout South America, North America, Europe, Japan, China and Australia. He has worked extensively with pianist Alfredo Minetti and guitarist Yamandú Costa, and has performed at Sony Hall in New York, at the Montreal Jazz Festival, and at the Vail Jazz Festival among many others. In 2016, he premiered his ‘Iberá’ (concert for bandoneon and orchestra) with the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago under the direction of Mina Zikri. In 2020 he received a commission by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) and wrote a symphonic poem entitled La Tierra Sin Mal (for bandoneon and orchestra). In January of 2024 Scofano performed with Yamandú Costa at the 33rd Fiesta Nacional del Chamamé, in Corrientes, Argentina. And later in the month he performed his La Tierra Sin Mal with the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Butterman.
