Arturo Márquez

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Arturo Márquez (b. 1950-) is a renowned Mexican composer of orchestra music who is well known for using musical forms and styles of his native Mexico and incorporating them into his compositions.

Márquez was born in Álamos, Sonora, in 1950 where his interest in music began. The son of a mariachi musician and the grandson of a Mexican folk musician, Márquez was exposed to several musical styles at an early age which would be the impetus for his later musical repertoire. Sometime during his late childhood he moved to Southern California and started formal studies in music with the violin, trombone, and piano. He started composing at the age of 16 and then attended the Mexican Music Conservatory where he studied with Federico Ibarra, Joaquén Gutiérrez Heras, and Héctor Quintanar. Márquez was then awarded a scholarship by the French government to study composition in Paris with Jacques Casterede. Subsequently, in the U.S., he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and obtained an MFA in composition at the California Institute of the Arts. There he studied with Morton Subotnick, Mel Powell, Lucky Mosko, and James Newton. Although Márquez was already an accomplished composer in Mexico, his music started to reach the international stage with the introduction of his series of Danzones in the early 1990s. The Danzones are based on the music of Cuba and the Veracruz region of Mexico. In particular, Danzon no. 2 has received international acclaim and has catapulted the popularity of the composer. Danzon no. 2 was commissioned from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and it was debuted in 1994, in Mexico City, under the direction of Francisco Savin. Due to the popularity of this piece, Danzon no. 2 has been nicknamed, along with Huapango of Pablo Moncayo, as the second national anthem by the Mexican people. It has also opened the door for the discovery of other pieces by the composer that are increasingly being performed throughout the world and extensively in Latin America. Marquez's music has been performed and recorded worldwide by a variety of chamber ensembles, symphony orchestras and soloists. He has composed numerous scores for film and dance works. He has received commissions and fellowships from among others, the Universidad Metropolitana de Mexico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Festival Cervantino, Festival del Caribe, the World's Fair in Sevilla in 1992, the Rockefeller Foundation and Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, (CONACULTA). He currently works at the National University of Mexico, Superior School of Music and CENIDIM (National Center of Research, Documentation and Information of Mexican Music). He lives with his family in Mexico City.

1 Awards
2 Music
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Awards

Márquez has been the recipient of several prestigious awards and honors. In February of 2006, he made history when he became the first musician to receive "La Medalla De Oro De Bellas Artes de Mexico" (Gold Medal of Fine Arts of Mexico), Mexico's most coveted award for career accomplishments in the fine arts. Other awards have included the Medalla Mozart (awarded by the Austrian government), Medalla Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado, California Institute of the Arts Distinguished Alumnus Award, Union de Cronistas de Musica y de Teatro, and many others. In 2000, the German public paid homage to the composer at a concert in his honor in Berlin. Marquez has also been honored at several musical festivals throughout Latin America where his music has been performed extensively and has obtained a large following. In 2005, the Arturo Marquez International Music Festival was celebrated in Caracas, Venezuela in honor of the composer. His Danzones are increasingly being used for ballet productions throughout the world. Although regarded by many as a controversial composer for his use of Latin American styles in his compositions, he is a popular composer among the Latin American public and is widely recognized as one of the most important and admired Mexican composers of his generation.

[edit] Music

Danzon no. 2, for orchestra
Marcha a Sonora
Espejos en la Arena, for cello and orchestra
Danzón no. 3, for flute, guitar and small orchestra
Danzón no. 4, for chamber orchestra
Danzón no. 5, portales de madrugada
Zarabandeo, for clarinet and piano
Son a tamayo, for harp and percussion and tape (featured at the 1996 World Harp Congress), which, along with Música para Mandinga, is an electroacoustic composition
Octeto Malandro
Danza de Mediodía, for wind quintet
Días de Mar y Río
En Clave, for piano
Homenaje a Gismonti, for string quartet
Paisajes bajo el signo de cosmos, for orchestra
Noche de luna, for chorus and orchestra
La pasión según San Juán de Letrán, De máscaras
Danzón No. 8, Homenaje to Maurice, for orchestra
Conga del Fuego Nuevo, for orchestra