Juan José Castro

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Juan José Castro (Avellaneda, March 7, 1895 - Buenos Aires, September 3, 1968) was an Argentinian composer and conductor.

Castro studied piano and violin under Manuel Posadas and composition under Eduarno Fornarini in Buenos Aires. In the 1920s he was awarded the Europa Prize, and then went on to study in Paris at the Schola Cantorum under Vincent D'Indy and Edouard Risler. Returning to Buenos Aires in 1925, he was named conductor of the Renacimiento Chamber Orchestra in 1928 and the Teatro Colón in 1930. From 1939 to 1943 he was a professor at the Buenos Aires Conservatory.

Castro's international career began in the 1940s; he conducted the Havana Philharmonic in 1947, the Sodre Orchestra in Uruguay in 1949, the Victorian Symphony in Melbourne in 1952, and the National Symphony in Buenos Aires from 1956-1960. From 1960 to 1964, he was director of the Puerto Rico Conservatory.

Castro's brothers, José María Castro and Washington Castro, were also both composers.

[edit] Works

Note:this list is incomplete

Violin Sonata, 1914
Cello Sonata, 1916
Piano Sonata No. 1, 1917
A una madre, 1925
Symphony No. 1, 1931
Biblical Symphony, 1932
Mekhano, ballet, 1934
Sinfonia Argentina, 1934
Symphony No. 3, 1936
Symphony No. 4, 1939
Piano Sonata No. 2, 1939
Offenbachiana, ballet, 1940
Piano Concerto, 1941
String Quartet, 1942
La zapatera prodigosa opera after Federico Garcia Lorca, 1943
Martin Fierro, cantata, 1944
El Llanto de las Sierras, 1947
Corales Criollos No. 1 & 2, piano, 1947
Proserpina y el extranjero (Proserpina and the Foreigner), opera after Omar del Carlo, 1951
Bodas de sangre (Marriage of Blood), opera after Lorca, 1952
Corales Criollos No. 3, orchestra, 1953
Symphony No. 5, 1956
Epitafio en ritmos y sonidos, chorus and orchestra, 1961