Diego Luzuriaga, composer

Ecuadorian Diego Luzuriaga is one of the most original voices among Latin American composers. The force and uniqueness of his music spring mainly from his Andean folk melodies, the use of French post-impressionistic sound color, and from his unapologetic South American lyricism.

He was born in 1955, in Loja, Ecuador, into a family of twelve children. He studied in Paris at the Paris Ecole Normale and later at Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University in New York. He has been taught by, among others, Gerardo Guevara, Yoshihisa Taira and Mesias Maiguashca. In Ecuador he was involved in the studying, performing, and recording of native Andean folk music and Latin American music.

He has received commissions from international ensembles and orchestras including the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ensemble Intercontemporain and Ensemble Itineraire of Paris, Ensemble Pro Musica Nipponia of Japan, the Nishikawa Ensemble of Japan, the Nieuw Ensemble of Amsterdam, Ensemble Aventure of Freiburg, the Ecuadorian National Symphony, Robert Aitken and Aurele Nicolet flute duo, Quintet of the Americas, and the North/South Consonance ensemble of New York.

He has received several international awards, including, in 1993, the Guggenheim Fellowship from New York, and, in 2007, the Eugenio Espejo Ecuadorian national arts prize, awarded by the Ecuadorian President. His music is regularly performed in numerous international events. The recording of "Once Canciones de Diego Luzuriaga" was released by soprano Dana Hanchard in New York and received rave reviews.

Luzuriaga's opera, Manuela y Bolivar, received critical acclaim when it premiered in Quito, Ecuador in November 2006. It is being produced again in 2009 in Ecuador, Mexico and South Korea. His new cantata. El Niño de los Andes (The Child of the Andes), commissioned by VocalEssence of Minneapolis, will premiere in December 2008.

He lives with his wife and three children in Pennsylvania (USA), and he teaches at Friends' Central School.

For more information:
http://www.diegoluzuriaga.com