Juan José Castro

For other people named Juan Castro, see Juan Castro (disambiguation).

Composer Juan José Castro

Juan José Castro (March 7, 1895 – September 3, 1968) was an Argentine composer and conductor.

Born in Avellaneda, Castro studied piano and violin under Manuel Posadas and composition under Eduardo 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 Édouard 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. In 1947 he conducted the Havana Philharmonic, and the Sodre Orchestra in Uruguay in 1949. In 1952-53 he was the conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (then known as the Victorian Symphony Orchestra) in Australia. He returned to the Americas and conducted the National Symphony in Buenos Aires from 1956-1960. From 1960 to 1964, he was director of the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico.

Castro's brothers, José María and Washington, were also both composers. Juan José Castro married the daughter of the composer Julián Aguirre. He died in Buenos Aires in 1968, aged 73.

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 García 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
• Suite introspectiva, orchestra, 1962

References

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