Santiago Vera-Rivera
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Santiago Vera-Rivera (b. October 15, 1950) (also known as Santiago Vera Rivera, without hyphen) is a Chilean composer, teacher and musical researcher.
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[edit] Studies
Vera-Rivera began his studies in composition at the Arts Faculty of the Universidad de Chile, under composers Carlos Botto, Alfonso Letelier, Juan Amenábar, Juan Lemann and Cirilo Vila.
He has taught at all educational levels in Chile and gave courses in Equator, Bolivia, Colombia and Spain. At the present time he is a permanent teacher at the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE), the Universidad de Chile and the Instituto Interamericano de Educación Musical (Inter-American Music Education Institute), a Chile-based organism of the Organization of American States (OAS).
[edit] Academic posts
Vera-Rivera was a founding member of prestigious authors and academic institutions, some of which he represented in Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Sweden, France and England. In 1987, he was elected President of the National Association of Composers of Chile (ANC). On May 25, 1998, he was nominated as full member of the Academia Chilena de Bellas Artes of the Instituto de Chile, at present holding the post of Executive Secretary.
[edit] Some compositions and awards
He has written more than 70 works for different genres, including the contemporary pieces Apocalíptika II for string orchestra and piano, Apocalíptika III (1991) for orchestra and choir, and Silogístika I (1989), for flute and acoustic guitar. He was the founder and director of SVR Producciones, a recording label created in 1987 to publish Chilean and Latin American concert and folk music from the 20th century. His repertoire includes more than 70 musical works for almost all genres. Several of them have received national and international awards. Most of his work has been edited and performed in Chile, United States, Europe and Oceania.
In 1987, he composed the first Mass for choir, soloists, traditional instruments and orchestra in Honor of Pope John Paul II. In 1989, his “Apocalíptika II” for string orchestra and piano was selected by an international jury among 589 musical compositions from all over the world for the World Music Days Oslo-90; its premiere took place in Oslo (Norway) in September 1990. By the end of 1993, his “Silogístika II” for voice (alto), clarinet, violin, violoncello and piano obtained the highest score in it category in the sixth edition of the contemporary Latin American music festival Trimalca (Tribuna Musical de América Latina y el Caribe) that took place in Mar del Plata (Argentina).
In 1996, he obtained the first prize in the competition of the National Federation of Chilean Choirs for the harmonization of the song “Arranca, Arranca”, by Violeta Parra. His harmonization of another song by Violeta Parra, “Gracias a la Vida”, was performed for the first official visit of a President from Finland to Chile on March 5, 1997 at the Municipal Theater of Santiago (Chile) by the Finnish artists Johanna Rusanen (soprano) and Ilkka Paananen (piano). In 1998, Santiago Vera-Rivera composed "Sonata al Jazz", dedicated to Walter "Pee Wee" Hunt.
In recognition for his production and distribution of Chilean and Latin American classical music (música docta), Vera-Rivera was awarded in 2004 with the Prize of the Consejo Chileno de la Música (Chilean Council of Music), affiliated to the International Music Council of the Unesco.
