Juan Carlos Tolosa

Juan Carlos Tolosa in Brussels
Photo by Pierre Kolp (2009)

Juan Carlos Tolosa is an Argentinian composer, pianist and conductor, born in Córdoba (Argentina) on October 2, 1966.

Studies

Juan Carlos Tolosa began his musical studies in 1972 at Instituto Domingo Zípoli in Córdoba, where he got the degree as choir master. After dropping Law, he entered Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina) to pursue a career as a composer from 1986 to 1989. In 1989 he left for Europe and settled in Brussels. He studied at Brussels Conservatory, where he got composition prizes in the classes of Paul-Baudouin Michel and Daniel Capelletti, for orchestration, forms, harmony and musical theory. At the same time, between 1990 and 1998, he regularly attended the Ars musica contemporary music festival composition seminars and workshops, with the participation of Luciano Berio, Witold Lutosławski, György Ligeti, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Brian Ferneyhough, Pascal Dusapin, Iannis Xenakis, Magnus Lindberg, Luca Francesconi and Wolfgang Rihm.

European career

He created Black Jackets Company (1995) together with Pierre Kolp, Francis Ubertelli and David Nuñezañez, and then the Black Jackets Ensemble (1996). His music has been performed in several countries, such as Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Japan, Luxemburg, Spain, Belgium^[1] and Germany, within prestigious festivals such as Ars musica (Belgium) or the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile contemporary music festival.^[2] Alongside with his pure music and musical theatre works, Tolosa has collaborated with the choreographers Marian Del Valle (Spain), Barbara Manzetti (Italy) and Gabriela Carrizo (Argentina), as well as with the film makers Giovanni Cioni (Italy) and Paco Aragón (Spain). He has been teaching Aesthetics of 20th century Music and Arts at Institut Jaques-Dalcroze (Brussels) since 1998, and is the conductor of the Black Jackets Ensemble (Brussels) since 2000.^[3]

Latin American career

In 1999 Tolosa taught a 20th-century Music aesthetics seminar at Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Argentina).^[4] In 2000 he wrote, produced, directed and hosted a series of twelve radio shows on contemporary music, La Odisea Musical del Siglo XX (The 20th century Musical Odyssey), broadcast by Nacional Córdoba.^[5] The same year he made his debut with the Argentinian pianist Germán Náger as the Náger & Tolosa Piano Duo. In 2001 he created the Cordoba Ensamble (a 20 musicians formation), and then the Laboratorio Contemporáneo del Córdoba Ensamble, acting as the musical director of both. He started teaching composition and conduction at La Colmena, Córdoba, in 2002 and has been, as from 2003, the Artistic Director of the Cordoba Contemporary Music Festival (Festival Internacional de Música Contemporánea de Córdoba).

Works

Canción del Cronopio for bass trombone
Y sacaréme la niebla for wind quintet
El ángel se pudre for two violins
Copper roses for twelve mixed voices a cappella
Evaporo el otro que sigue caminando for bass clarinet
A su imán for double bass, bass clarinet and electronics
Klavierkonzert for piano and live electronics
L'endroit for soprano, violin, cello, double bass & live electronics
Obertura for 18 musicians
Canto II for 16 musicians
Estebnia for percussion and cd
Focos for clarinet and 5 cd players
Piano Kit for piano
Pentimento for two flutes
Dimmi chi fosti for orchestra
A rear window for cello & bass clarinet
gente que canta de espaldas for 8 soloist voices
Los vestigios for string quartet

References