Juan Jose Castro

Juan Jose Castro

Biography:

Juán José Castro was an Argentine composer and conductor born in Avellaneda, Buenos Aires province, Argentina on March 7, 1895. He studied piano, violin, and composition in Buenos Aires with Manuel Posadas, Gaito, and Fornarini. He received the Europa Prize in the 1920's, which is when he traveled to Paris to study composition at the Schola Cantorum with Vincent D'Indy and Édouard Risler. He returned to Argentina in 1925 and founded the Quartet society a year later. In 1928 he conducted the Orquesta de Nacimiento which became the start of his conducting career. He confounded the Grupo de Renovación in 1929 with Juán Carlos Paz, but later began working independently when the group separated in 1937. He began conducting opera in 1930 with the Teatro Colón, and became the director of the Aseciación del Profesorado Orquestal and Asociación Sinfónica in 1933. He later became a professor at the Buenos Aires Conservatory from 1939-1943.

          In the 1940's he began working internationally, conducting the NBC symphony Orchestra in Mexico, Peru, and Chile. In 1947 he conducted works such as the Havana Philharmonic and the Sodre Orchestra in Uruguay. In 1948 he joined the Argentine League of Composers, the National Academy of Fine Arts, and the National Arts Foundation. In 1949 he became the director of the Philarmonic Orchestra of Cuba until 1949, when he acme the director of the SODRE Symphony Orchestra in Montevideo, Uruguay until 1952. He also conducted the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in Australia from 1952-1953. He received his first international award at the Festival Latinoamericano de Música in Caracas in 1954. 

In 1955 he returned to Buenos Aires where he became the conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional from 1956-1960. In 1959 he became the dean of the Puerto Rico Conservatory until 1964. He carried out the rest of his musical career as the dean of the National Conservatory in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Paz passed away in Buenos Aires on September 5, 1968. 

Bibliography:

Information found at: Oxford Music Online (2010). Retrieved from: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/44159pg2

Information found at: the Bach Cantatas Website. Retrieved from: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Castro-Juan.htm

Information found at: the Fundación Ostinato Website. Retrieved from: http://ostinato.tripod.com/castro.html

Information found at: Oxford Online Music (2010). Retrieved at: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/subscriber/article_works/grove/music/44159pg2#S44159.2.1

Discography:

Orchestral:

·         Allegro lento e vivace, 1930; 

·         Corales criollos no.3, 1953; Sym. no.5, 1956; 

·         Pf Conc., 1941; 

·         Suite introspectiva, 1961; 

·         Sym. no.1, 1931; Sinfonia argentina, 1934; 

·         Vn Conc., 1962; 9 other works

Choral: 

·         Epitafio en ritmos y sonidos, chorus, orch, 1961;

·         Martín Fierro (cant.), Bar, chorus, orch, 1944; 

·         Sinfonía bíblica, solo vv, chorus, orch, 1932; 

Solo: 

·         Angos, pf, 1941; 

·         Nueve preludios, pf, 1934; 

·         Pf Sonata, 1939; T

·         Sonatina española, pf, 1953; 

·         Sonata, vc, pf, 1916; Pf Sonata, F, 1917; 

·         Sonata, vn, pf, 1914; 

·         Str Qt, 1942;