Philippe lemaigre leo brouwer biography
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In the mid-1960s, Brouwer was intensely involved in the Cuban avant-garde, inspired by the music he heard at the 1961 Warsaw Autumn Festival. Afterwards, Brouwer went to the United States to study music at the Hartt College of Music of the University of Hartford, and later at the Juilliard School, where he studied under Vincent Persichetti and took composition classes with Stefan Wolpe.
Brouwer's early works show the influence of Cuban folk music, but during the 1960s and 70s, he became interested in the music of modernist composers such as Luigi Nono and Iannis Xenakis, using indeterminacy in works such as Sonograma I.
Among his works are a large number of solo guitar pieces, several guitar concertos and over forty film scores. (Andante. Production Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematograficos (ICAIC).
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"LEO BROUWER" is the most important and complete documentary of the life and work of Leo Brouwer.
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Leo Brouwer (1939), composer, guitar player and conductor, was born in Havana into a musical family.
He initiated his son encouraging him to play these composers' works, mostly by ear.
Young Brouwer received his first formal guitar instruction from the noted Cuban guitarist and pedagogue Isaac Nicola, in turn a disciple of Emilio Pujol. Other works from this period include the guitar pieces Canticum (1968), La espiral eterna (1971), Parábola (1973) and Tarantos (1974).
In 1998 Brouwer was awarded the Manuel de Falla prize and in 1999 the National music prize for Cuba. Concierto p.g. He furthered his musical education in America, studying composition at the Juilliard School and at Hart College in Hartford.
He became director of the Music Department of the Cinema Institute of Cuba in 1961 as well as professor of composition in the Music Conservatory and musical advisor to the National Radio and Television Chair of Havana.
Production was by the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos(ICAIC). It was written and directed by the Cuban film maker JOSE PADRÓN between 1996 and 2000. Leo Brouwer is involved in the "Concurso y Festival Internacional de Guitarra de la Habana" (International Guitar Festival of the Havana).
Brouwer composed his Sonata for solo guitar in 1990, for the great guitar player Julian Bream, who first performed it the following year.
Returning to Cuba, he began active work in film industry; he has scored over 50 films, including international hits. Thus, it brought together for the first time Leo Brouwer -considered at the time one of the world´s most important guitar soloists - and the Afro-Cuban jazz group IRAKERE. He was also named director of the experimental department of the Cuban Institute of Cinema Arts and Industry, where he continued his own work as composer.
Brouwer was the first Cuban composer to use aleatory forms in his compositions.
Brouwer has conducted orchestras around the world including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Scottish National Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Mexico National Symphony Orchestra. He has also written music for more than 100 films.
Brouwer's early compositions reflect a Cuban influence and are strongly rhythmic while his later works veer towards a more minimalist style.
His early compositions include Prelude (1956) and Fugue (1959), both influenced by Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky.