Leonardo Balada

Leonardo Balada (born September 22, 1933 in Sant Just Desvern near Barcelona ) is an American composer of Spanish origin.

Life

Balada studied at the Conservatorio del Liceu in Barcelona and, after emigrating to the USA in 1956, continued his education at the Juilliard School in New York . He studied composition with Vincent Persichetti , Aaron Copland and Igor Markevitch . Since 1970 he has taught at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . In 1981 he received US citizenship.

Works

In his music he used North American and Spanish folk tunes, as in his operas Zapata! and Cristobál Colón ( Christopher Columbus ) can be heard. Most of his works, including those for purely instrumental instrumentation, are based on human language or song. Shortly after entering Carnegie Mellon University, Balada was fascinated by another type of music, namely the sound of American industrial culture.

Although his Steel Symphony , created in 1972, has no programmatic character, the ideas stem from visits to the steel mills in Pittsburgh . Here he collected material which he later reworked into an orchestral version for his symphony. The piece has no clear beginning and no real end, it begins and ends with the unison A of the usual warm playing of an orchestra and - although it has never been performed this way up to now - can be played endlessly or placed directly before another piece without a break. The musicians of the orchestra or the conductor are free to repeat the polyrhythmic figures in an ostinato . The premiere took place on January 12, 1973 with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Donald Johanos .

Web links

• Leonardo Balada on the Carnegie Mellon University website