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Wednesday, August 10th The Composers’ Collection, 7:00 Angela Peralta Theater, Free Entrance.
09 August 2011

Come experience the new Composers’ Program working in tandem with the students and instructors of The Festival’s Advanced International Music (AIM) Student Program in concert this Wednesday. These composers are exceptionally talented and recognized with awards and commissions.

As Marc Satterwhite, composer and the AIM Student Program Director said, “Some of these are short pieces written just before the festival with specific groups in mind, while some are pre-existing pieces. The student composers have been working with the instrumentalists, coaching them on their music, but also getting valuable feedback from the performer's perspective.”rn rn""Speaking on behalf of all our composers, we are particularly touched by the warm welcome we have received. The genuine interest in our music is inspiring, and working with the musicians has been deeply rewarding. Further, we couldn't imagine a better group of young composers in our program. We are particularly grateful to everyone involved with the San Miguel de Allende Chamber Music Festival. Muchas gracias!” James Aikman, Young Composers’ Program Director



Here are the Biographies of composers in the new composers’ program who will present short works during The Composers’ Collection:



Evan Rogers was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Arlington, VA. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Technology from Northeastern University in 2005, where he studied with composer Ronald Bruce Smith, and a Master of Music Composition from the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University in 2008, under the tutelage of composers Michael Hersch and Kevin Puts. In the summer of 2007, Rogers was invited to take part in the U.S. State Department sponsored Fusion Arts Exchange program, where he collaborated with musicians from Brazil, South Africa, Ireland, and India. Recent commissions include Bass Quartet No. 1 for four double basses, written for and featuring Peabody faculty member and double-bassist in the National Symphony Orchestra Jeffrey Weisner, and original music and sound design for the dramatic work Madness and Civilization with writer/director/multi-media artist Natsu Onoda Power, which premiered in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown University in February of 2010. Recent performances include the European premiere of his song cycle Six Significant Landscapes at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, and Bass Quartet No. 1, in Baltimore, MD, USA. Evan sits on the Board of Directors of Vivre Musicale, Inc.



JOMI DELGADO COMPOSITOR | COMPOSER studied Composition in the Musical Studies and Research Center (CIEM, Mexico City) with Víctor Rasgado, Kavindu (Alejandro Velasco) and Enrico Chapela, among others. He also studied piano with Jorge Torres and Roberto Martínez.

In 2007 he was awarded a grant from the State of Michoacan to study electroacoustic music and sonic art as part of the ‘Prácticas de Vuelo’ program in the Mexican Centre for Music and Sonic Art (CMMAS by its initials in Spanish).

In 2008 his piece ‘El Mar Sigue Adelante’, based on the poem by José Emilio Pacheco, won 1st price in the the First Janacek-Revueltas International Composition Award in Czech Republic.

In 2009 he obtained an LTCL degree with distinction in Music Composition from Trinity College in London.

In 2010 his orchestral piece 'Nuevo Canto a México' was selected to be the musical theme for the commemoration of the bicentenary of the Mexican independence and centenary of the Mexican Revolution through a national contest called for by Conaculta through FONCA. In that same year his first opera, entitled 'Apoidea, short exagonal opera', for mezzosoprano and chamber sextet, was premiered in Brno, Czech Republic, under the direction of Gabriel Rovnak and with Lucie Lucie Slepánková in the part of the Queen.Jomi has composed traditional, electroacoustic, academic and popular music, which has been performed in Mexico and abroad, as well as music for theater and short films. His work has been largely influenced by the folklore of his country as well as by modern popular music. He lives presently in Madrid, where he composes, teaches music and is pianist in a big band, an ensamble for which he also writes and arranges music. He is working in different projects in Spain, México and other countries.



Marius Díaz (Bogotá, Colombia, 1985) Composer, director, and editor – A Music Bachelor with Music Composition specialty at the Higher Institute of Arts with Gold title, mentored by teachers Alfredo Diez Nieto and Tulio Peramo; he began his professional training in the National Youth Orchestra of Colombia and the National Arts School of Cuba in theoretical subjects. He was in charge of the editorship of the Journal of Theory 1-5; Basics of Music Theory Lessons, Reading Musical Keys and Sol-Fa Training by Master Elvira Fuentes, and books: Counterpoint and Harmony and Musical Forms by Master Alfredo Diez Nieto, who is also a biographer and editor. His repertoire includes several cameral formats and his music has been performed by renowned artists at different scenarios in Colombia and Cuba. In 2008 he won the First Prize for composition accompanied with Woodwind Quintet Popol Vuh, and a Mention thanks to the electro-acoustic Ap. 17 La madre de las Rameras (Rev. 17. The Mother of Harlots) at the Musicalia contest held in Havana, Cuba. He has been involved with musical composition and direction of thesis, films and shorts at the Film School San Antonio de los Baños and Telesur. In September 2009 he set up the Foundation colarte café where he is the chairman and is developing the complete edition of work by Master Alfredo Diez Nieto and organizing events to promote cultural exchange between Colombia, México and Cuba.



Charles Halka, Composer. Charles’ compositions have been performed in the United States, Mexico, Russia, and Lithuania, and upcoming and past performances include premieres by counter)induction (New York), ONIX Ensamble (Mexico), the Boston New Music Initiative, the chamber choir Jauna Muzika (Lithuania), the Armonas Trio (Lithuania), In Spe (Lithuania), Pictures on Silence (Baltimore), New Dischord (Chattanooga), and the California State University Northridge Symphony. As a U.S. Fulbright grantee, he spent a year in Vilnius, Lithuania researching Lithuanian music and writing an opera in collaboration with director and librettist Marija Simona Šimulynaitė. The opera, Julius, received its premiere on March 23, 2010 in Vilnius. In March of this year, Round and Round, based on a work by the great American music patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, was premiered at the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress. Charles has studied at conservatories in the United States, Russia, and Lithuania and holds degrees in both piano and composition from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied piano with Brian Ganz and composition with Michael Hersch. He is now completing coursework towards a Doctor of Musical Arts at the Shepherd School of Music, where he has studied with Richard Lavenda and Kurt Stallmann. Current and upcoming projects include a companion piece to L’histoire du soldat for the Lithuanian septet In Spe (Ričardas Šumila, conductor), a gamelan-inspired solo piano work for pianist Linda Angkasa, and a concerto for flute and orchestra for Mexican flautist Alejandro Escuer.



José Julio Díaz Infante (Mexico City 1973) José Julio Díaz Infante has developed his career between music pedagogy and composition, he holds a music theory degree from Trinity College, London and two degrees from CIEM in Mexico, one in music pedagogy and another in composition. Among his principal teachers are María Antonieta Lozano, Victor Rasgado and Gerardo Tamez. He held the position of Academic Director at the Hidalgo State Music School and from 1998 he served as full time faculty at CIEM. He has participated in several music education and composition seminars and symposiums in Europe, South America and Mexico, and he has earned several distinctions. His music has been performed in France, Czech Republic and in severals cities in Mexico and by ensembles such as the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Cuarteto Carlos Chávez y Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, among others. Having recently earned a Fulbright grant, from early 2011 he has lived in the U.S., pursuing a master's degree at the University of Louisville, where he studies with Marc Satterwhite, head of the Grawemeyer award in music composition.





Daniel J. Knaggs, a native of southeast Michigan, is a concert composer, arranger, producer, and vocalist working in a wide range of media and styles. He has lived in France, Mexico, and Nicaragua and many aspects of these diverse cultures and languages find their way into his music. As a concert composer, Daniel’s work has received several honors including multiple awards from ASCAP. He was awarded first prize in the 2011 International Musica Sacra Composer Competition, resulting in performances in Poland, Lithuania, and the UK of his Hic est discipulus ille. In the blindly-judged 2010 International Sacred Music Competition for Composers, he won four out of the six prizes, resulting in four premieres at the Basilica of the National Shrine, Washington, D.C. in 2010. As winner of the Centenary Hymn Competition for the Diocese of Toledo, his Magnificat (2009) was televised on a national broadcast by EWTN on October 7, 2009. In addition, his Quem Pastores Laudavere (2006-10) won the 2010 Indianapolis Symphonic Choir Commission Competition. Three of his compositions were winners to be performed in Boston Metro Opera’s 2011 Contemporary Americana Festival. Daniel’s thesis composition Hope Reaching Beyond the Limit, received the BGSU Graduate College’s 2010 Distinguished Thesis Award. Recent commissions include Streams (2011) for string quartet by the Michigan Music Teachers Association, Iucunda Lux (2011) by the Young New Yorkers Chorus, Quem Pastores Laudavere (2010) by the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, Anastasis for violin and piano (2010) by St. Anastasia Church’s 2011 Festival “Art for God’s Sake”



Craig Davis Pinson (1990), born and raised in Mexico City, is a composer and guitarist studying at The Boston Conservatory with Andy Vores. Originally a rock musician, he is currently completing his Bachelor’s Degree in Composition at the conservatory. His music has been performed at The Boston Conservatory’s Seully Hall and at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. His performed pieces include a string quartet, clarinet quartet, wind quintet, piano quartet and piano duo. In 2010 he was awarded a conservatory scholarship to attend The Boston Conservatory. In 2011 he was accepted as a member of the Boston Composers Collective and presented his piece for clarinet quartet, Movimiento en Silencio at the first Boston Composers Collective Concert. With a disparate array of influences - ranging from punk rock to tango - his music is an attempt at creating materials intuitively, tearing them apart and rebuilding them through a variety of experimental procedures - with a strong emphasis on melody.

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