COMPOSER/ARRANGER

COMPOSER/ARRANGER

Composer / Arranger:

I remember writing my first arrangement at age 14. Completely fascinated with technology, computers and synthesizers, I began creating these small arrangements for my elementary-school competitions.

To me, having a device that gave me the sounds of a symphonic orchestra was just mind-blowing, and truly changed my life.

Without knowing or giving much attention to "music writing", and mostly focused on my performer side, I was writing arrangements almost on a daily basis, mainly out of necessity for my own bands.

After years involved in so many different projects, styles, orchestras and ensembles, I became a composer/arranger "not in a classroom, but onstage ... or by osmosis" (I guess) ... My first compositions were written for my own jazz band in Venezuela. I was 17 years old, and I was collaborating with fusion-jazz groups that mixed and experimented with traditional Venezuelan rhythms and Latin popular styles. These styles also became my first steps as a composer.

I kept writing arrangements, mostly in Latin styles for local "salsa" bands, until I left Venezuela to pursue my studies at Berklee College of music, in Boston. There, as a freshman student, I had to decide what my "major" would be, and even thou I loved all my arranging and composition classes, I took what I knew was hardest and toughest road for me ... my "piano performance" studies.

I guess in a way, I had the feeling that I would never stop writing music and expanding that side of me... and that was exactly what happened. After years of questioning myself for being involved in such a variety of music styles and instruments, and not focusing in just "one thing," I realized that everything merges naturally in my writing... I write music because I play music, and have lived it on every stage I have been on. From "salsa" to "Stravinsky;" from a "Flamenco group" to a "Symphonic Orchestra;" everything resides inside of my head, and runs through my blood... and I embrace and enjoy it all.

What kind of "composer" am I?

The only kind I can be... a mix of a lot of things, and my cultural heritage is definitely my biggest asset. All my compositions have a little piece of my roots, a little of my country, my family and my friends. I like to think that I seat comfortably in between both classical and popular worlds ... at least that is where I naturally seat.

My first commission for full-orchestra was an orchestration of a "flamenco guitar" piece called "Farruca" (by guitarist Chuscales), commissioned by the National Institute of Flamenco in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Later, I began collaborating with Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov, orchestrating and writing sections of "La Pasión" and his opera "Ainadamar". Thanks to this collaboration and friendship, I was commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony and conductor Robert Spano to write an overture titled "Pregunta y Respuesta", premiered in 2008. A year later, I was commissioned by the composer series "Music Now" of the Chicago Symphony, to write a piece for small-ensemble titled "Café con Pan".
In 2009, French pianists Katia and Marielle Labeque commissioned a suite version of Golijov's "La Pasión" titled "Nazareno", for full-orchestra, two pianos and percussion, premiered by the Orchestre de Paris in 2010.

A year later, the "Bach Academy International" and his director Helmuth Rilling, commissioned an oratorio for choir, full-orchestra and soloists titled "Aqua", premiered in Caracas, Venezuela by the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela and the National Youth Orchestras of Germany and Venezuela. This oratorio received the "European Composer Award 2011", as part of the Young Euro Classic Festival, in Germany.

http://www.young-euro-classic.de/en/in-detail/composer-award/

In 2012, I was commissioned by the Boston Landmarks Orchestra to write "Viaje", a multi-cultural musical journey for full-orchestra and "Latin combo", premiered in Boston, Massachusetts. A year later, I was commissioned by violinist Johnny Gandelsman and the Community MusicWorks of Providence, Rhode Island, to write a violin concerto titled "Fantasía de Guayaba Habanera", premiered in May of 2013.

... While all of these commissions occur, I keep arranging and composing for salsa bands like "Spanish Harlem Orchestra", and my own projects "La Clave Secreta" and "Plural".

After all these experiences as a composer/arranger, I can say that this is perhaps the spot or the side of my career where I can express fully who I am. I am very grateful to have found the answer of that old question of mine ... why so many styles? ... why so many instruments?

COMPOSER/ARRANGER

info@gonzalograu.com (email)
www.gonzalograu.com (web)