Juan José Castro

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.

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

References

*Don Randel, "The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music". Harvard, 1996, p. 144.