Gonzalo Curiel (composer)

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Gonzalo Curiel Barba (born January 10, 1904 in Guadalajara , † July 4, 1958 in Mexico City ) was a Mexican pianist and composer.

Curiel came to California with his family in 1917 and studied piano and music theory with Zez Confrey in Los Angeles . At his father's request, he began studying medicine in Guadalajara in 1922, but decided in 1927 to pursue a musical career. That year he joined a vocal trio, of which he was a member for three years.

In 1931 he went to Mexico City, where he founded the vocal quartet Los Caballeros de la Armonía the following year , with which he made his radio debut. The radio station XEW hired him as a pianist in 1935. There he met Alfonso Ortiz Tirado , whom he accompanied as a pianist on a concert tour through Mexico. It was during this time that his first successful compositions such as He querido olvidar and Dime (interpreted by José Mojica ) were written.

He then founded a new group with Ciro Calderón , Emilio Tuero and the brothers Pablo and Carlos Martínez Gil and in 1933 the instrumental ensemble Los Trovadores de Ensueño , from which the El Escuadrón del Ritmo dance orchestra emerged in 1940 . With this and the solo singers Adelina García and Lidya Fernández he went on concert tours through Mexico and the USA (1940), Brazil and Argentina (1941) and Chile (1941–42).

After his return in 1942 he began working as a film music composer. He wrote music for a total of more than 180 films, worked on the films Cita con la muerte , Payasadas de la vida and Dancing with his orchestra and was awarded a Premio Ariel for his music to Eugenia Grandet and for Vainilla, Bronce y Morir ( 1958) nominated for an Ariel. Curiel was the founder of the Orquesta de la Unión Filarmónica de México and a founding member of the Mexican copyright organization SACM ( Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México ), of which he was president for two terms.

In addition to the film scores, Curiel composed around 250 songs based mostly on his own and based on texts by José Díaz Mirón Castilla , Alfonso Espirú , Alfonso Herrera and Gabriel Luna de la Fuente . His song Vereda tropical , which was also recorded in English, French, Italian and German, became famous . He also composed symphonic works and three piano concertos.

For his artistic achievement, Curiel was awarded in 1953 by Agustín Yáñez , the governor of Jalisco. After his death as a result of a heart attack in 1958, numerous posthumous honors followed. Several streets and avenues in Mexican cities have been named after him, a plaque was placed on the house where he was born, and his name is on a memorial wall unveiled in 2001 by the Jalisco government for the province's most famous sons.

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personal data
SURNAME Curiel, Gonzalo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Curiel Barba, Gonzalo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mexican pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Guadalajara (Mexico)
DATE OF DEATH 4th July 1958
Place of death Mexico city