Cristian Amigo is an American composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, improviser, guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

, and ethnomusicologist of Chilean birth. His compositional output includes music for the stage and screen, chamber and orchestral music, opera, avant-jazz and rock music, country blues, and art/pop song. His work has been published by Boosey & Hawkes

Boosey & Hawkes

Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and wind musical instruments....

 , Concord Music, and independently. He has also recorded solo albums on the innova and BA labels, most recently Kingdom of Jones (innova Recordings, 2008). He earned a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from UCLA where he focused on the music of South American musician immigrants in the United States. He is currently composer-in-residence at INTAR Theater in New York City, where he runs the NewMusic Tuesdays concert series, and is a visiting scholar in the New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

 Latino Studies program. The 2012 edition of The New Grove Dictionary of American Music (Oxford Press) will contain a 1500-word entry on Amigo and his music.

His awards include the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition and the Van Leir Fellowship from Meet the Composer. His work has also been supported and/or produced by organizations including the Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), New York City Opera, Jerome Foundation, American Composers Forum, New York State Music Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Danish Arts Council, Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, LAByrinth Theater Company, Boy Scouts of America, José Limón Dance Company, Sundance Institute’s Film Composer Labs, UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance (APPEX/Asian Pacific Performance Exchange), CSI(CUNY) Foundation, ASK Playwright/Composer Labs, Durfee Foundation, Teatro del Pueblo (Minneapolis), Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.), INTAR, Oslo Elsewhere, and the 24 Hour Plays. His film scores have been featured at the Sundance Film Festival and the Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival in Los Angeles.

Some recent projects include The Gotham Roots Orchestra, an Americana country-blues band that performs selections from Amigo's "66 Americana Songs," and live performances with drummer/composer Gustavo Aguilar, the LA improv collective Surrealestate, and with his "new music jam band" Kingdom of Jones. Amigo also recently collaborated with Jill Sigman/thinkdance and musician Miguel Frasconi on the performance/planting ritual "nu-gro #2.". His writing appears in the college reader The Conscious Reader, and the Grateful Dead Live in Conceert (MacFarland).

Early life and education

Born in Santiago, Chile

Santiago, Chile

Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...

, Amigo emigrated with his family to the United States as a young child. His father Raul Amigo had his own radio program on a local station which focused on the relationship between the music of Latin America and American popular music. At 12 years old, he began studying music seriously with Joseph Torello in New Haven, Connecticut. Two years later the family moved to Miami, and Amigo began performing with a rock band he formed, Six Feet Under. He attended Hialeah-Miami Lakes Senior High School (HML) and while a student there taught classes in guitar to his peers.During his time at HML, Amigo took courses in music theory

Music theory

Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...

, classical guitar, and jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 at Miami-Dade Community College.

He entered the music program at Florida State University

Florida State University

The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...

 in 1980 at the age 17. While there he studied classical guitar

Classical guitar

The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...

 under Bruce Holzman. After earning an Associate of Arts diploma from FSU, Amigo moved to Miami and actively performed in recording sessions and original and cover bands while attending music classes at University of Miami. His first recording session at age 17 was the top 40 Narada Michael Walden-produced "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" by Jermaine Stewart. He moved Los Angeles to pursue music and a university education and earned a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in political science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 from California State University, Northridge

California State University, Northridge

California State University, Northridge is a public university in Northridge, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California, United States....

, and both a Master of Arts

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 and Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Los Angeles

The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

. He also studied jazz with Kenny Burrell

Kenny Burrell

Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell is an American jazz guitarist. His playing is grounded in bebop and blues; he has performed and recorded with a wide range of jazz musicians.-Biography:...

 and Gary Pratt

Gary Pratt

Gary Joseph Pratt is an English cricketer and a footballer. He is primarily a left-handed batsman but also bowls right-arm off breaks...

, and the sitar

Sitar

The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...

 with Harihar Rao

Harihar Rao

Harihar Rao is a sitar player who worked in the ethnomusicology department at UCLA. In 1967, Rao published the book Introduction to Sitar, which sold more than 500 copies in its first two weeks of publication...

. His professors at UCLA included Anthony Seeger, Susan McClary, Edwin Seroussi, Tara Browner, Ali Jihad Racy, and Jacqueline Djedje. In LA he also studied composition with Wadada Leo Smith for a short time.

Career

Amigo began working as a professional musician in Miami at age 14. He studied at Miami-Dade Community College with Vincent Bredice, Lou Mowad, and George Aguiar while in HS. He played in top 40 bands and began work as a session guitarist on jingles and records and collaborated with and was in the scene with many well known musicians (Alain Berge, Narada Michael Walden

Narada Michael Walden

Narada Michael Walden is an American producer, drummer, singer, and songwriter. He was given the name Narada by guru Sri Chinmoy in the early 1970s and his musical career spans three decades, in which he was awarded several gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards...

, Raul Malo

Raul Malo

Raúl Francisco Martínez-Malo Jr. , known professionally as Raúl Malo, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He was the lead singer of country music band The Mavericks and the co-writer of many of their singles, as well as Rick Trevino's 2003 single "In My Dreams"...

, Nil Lara

Nil lara

Nil Lara is a Cuban-American musician from Miami, Florida who is a singer, guitarist and songwriter, playing the tres, the six-stringed Cuban guitar, and the cuatro, a Venezuelan guitar.- Biography :...

, Froilan "Fro" Sosa, Lee Levin, John Joseph

John Joseph

John Joseph may refer to:* John Joseph , United States educator and Middle East historian; taught at Franklin & Marshall College * John Joseph , Catholic bishop of Faisalabad, Pakistan...

). He moved to LA in 1986 to pursue music and a university education.

While a university student in California, Amigo made a living as an assistant travel agent, a janitor, a session guitarist

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

, band leader, music producer, film composer, jingle

Jingle

A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...

 producer (Kraft, JC Penney, California Dept of Health Services, Toyota), concert producer (Jazz at the Wadsworth), and music teacher (Plaza de la Raza, OnRamp Arts, Music Center). He performed in a number of bands in Los Angeles, including African, Arabic, funk, hard rock, free jazz, jazz, and reggae groups. He recorded two records with the local funk-rock band SPEAK (with Ed Barguiarena, David J. Carpenter, and Evan Stone) and released two recordings with them on BA Records. He worked as a session guitarist with artists including Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer

Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...

, Mark Mancina

Mark Mancina

Mark Alan Mancina is a U.S. composer, primarily for Hollywood soundtracks, such as his collaboration with Trevor Rabin on the soundtrack for Con Air. He arranged many of the songs behind Disney's The Lion King including the Broadway musical...

, Jay Rifkin

Jay Rifkin

Jay Rifkin is a music and film producer.Rifkin created the company Media Ventures with Hans Zimmer, a childhood friend, whom he partnered with to produce and compose with. Media Ventures is a diverse entertainment group that includes music, new media, film and television...

, Les Hooper

Les Hooper

Les Hooper is a composer in Los Angeles, USA. His music ranges from classical to blues and jazz; from commercials to concert commissions. His credits include movies, TV, commercials, live performances, orchestral commissions, and many published pieces of music...

, Wadada Leo Smith

Wadada Leo Smith

Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith is a trumpeter and composer working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation.-Biography:...

, David Ornette Cherry, Justo Almario, Toni Childs, and others.

Amigo's artistic career had a major breakthrough while doing research for his Ph.D. in New York City during the summer of 2001. He was hired for a single gig with the legendary Afro-Peruvian guitarist Carlos Hayre. Hayre invited Amigo to become his second guitarist. He performed with Hayre on tour in many concerts, including the 2002 World Festival of Sacred Music in Los Angeles and the Brava Theater in San Francisco. Amigo remained based in New York City, and accolades soon followed. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship

Guggenheim Fellowship

Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...

 in music composition in 2006, the Van Lier Fellowship from Meet the Composer

Meet the Composer

Meet the Composer is an American organization founded in 1974 by the composer John Duffy as a project of the New York State Council on the Arts. It seeks to assist composers in making a living through writing music by sponsoring commissioning, residency, education, and audience interaction...

. His work has also been supported and/or produced by organizations including the Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), New York City Opera, Jerome Foundation, American Composers Forum, New York State Music Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Danish Arts Council, Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, LAByrinth Theater Company, Boy Scouts of America, José Limón Dance Company, Sundance Institute’s Film Composer Labs, UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance (APPEX/Asian Pacific Performance Exchange), CSI(CUNY) Foundation, ASK Playwright/Composer Labs, Durfee Foundation, Teatro del Pueblo (Minneapolis), Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.), INTAR, Oslo Elsewhere, and the 24 Hour Plays. His film scores have been featured at the Sundance Film Festival and the Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival in Los Angeles.

Amigo moved to New York City from LA in 2003, and quickly established himself on the Latin music, free improv, "new music", and theater scenes. Some new and recent projects include producing 25 Years of New York New Music(innova Recordings) - a 10 CD anthology of New York new music composers (Meredith Monk

Meredith Monk

Meredith Jane Monk is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. Since the 1960s, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recording extensively for ECM Records.-Life and work:Meredith Monk is primarily known for her...

, Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros

Pauline Oliveros is an American accordionist and composer who is a central figure in the development of post-war electronic art music....

, Annea Lockwood

Annea Lockwood

Annea Lockwood is a New Zealand born American composer. She taught electronic music at Vassar College. Her work often involves recordings of natural found sounds...

, Rudresh Mahanthappa

Rudresh Mahanthappa

Rudresh Mahanthappa is a New York-based jazz alto saxophonist and composer.Mahanthappa was born in Trieste, Italy, and grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1992 and received his Master of Fine Arts degree in jazz composition from Chicago's DePaul University...

, Fred Ho

Fred Ho

Fred Ho is an American jazz baritone saxophonist, composer, bandleader, playwright, writer, and social activist....

, Joan Tower

Joan Tower

Joan Tower is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by the New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world...

, + 54 more, three solo CDs Cristian Amigo: Live LA Sessions (BA Records), Kingdom of Jones (innova), The Buzzy Garden (innova), and collaborations/works with Eve Beglarian

Eve Beglarian

Eve Beglarian is a contemporary American composer, performer and audio producer of Armenian descent...

, violinist Mary Rowell (ETHEL), Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, Elliot Sharp, Dom Minasi, Miguel Frasconi

Miguel Frasconi

Miguel Frasconi is an American composer who often uses improvisation, electronics, and experimental musical instruments. He is well known for his use of new glass instruments, and was a founding member of The Glass Orchestra from 1977 to 1986. In 1979, he received his B.F.A...

, Hans Tammen, Corey Dargel

Corey Dargel

Corey Dargel is a composer, lyricist, and singer of electronic art songs that "smartly and impishly blur the boundaries between contemporary classical idioms and pop" . Dargel has also sung music by other living composers, including Eve Beglarian, k. terumi shorb, Phil Kline, Nick Brooke, and...

, JACK Quartet, pianist Jenny Lin

Jenny Lin

- Life :Born in Taiwan, Jenny Lin began her piano studies at the age of 4. At age 10, she was accepted into the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, Austria, in the studio of Noel Flores. At age 14, she immigrated to the United States, studying with Julian Martin at the Peabody Conservatory in...

, Jason Hwang's Spontaneous River Orchestra, Izzi Ramkissoon's Electric Eel Multimedia Ensemble, ARK Guitar Trio, choreographer Jill Sigman/thinkdance, librettists Royce Vavrek and Emily Conbere, drummer Andrew Drury, drummer/composer Gustavo Aguilar, and the Guidonian Hand among many others.

He recently composed the music for the play 3 Truths by Naomi Ilzuka (Cornerstone Theatre/Grand Performances-LA), "Evening all Afternoon" by Anna Zeigler (New Georges), Killing Play by Dave Anzuelo (Rattlestick Theater-NYC), Michael John Garce's Points of Departure, and the opera Notes on the Balinese Cockfight with librettist Renato Rosaldo.

Recent Works List (selection):

66 Americana Songs

Western Spaces song trio w/librettist

Notes on the Balinese Cockfight w/librettist Renato Rosaldo

7 for solo piano (for Jenny Lin)

MOMA Yellow Notebook

Cosmicomics #1 for clarinet, cello, and electric guitar

for/4guitars: electric guitar quartet

Picasso: Payaso (2008 - ) opera in-progress

String Quartet No. 2/Ambiguous Dog (2008)

(outsidein) Guitar Quartet No. 1 (2011) – Corona Guitar Quartet (Copenhagen)

Songs from Jose (2008) – City Center (NYC)

Kingdom of Jones (2008) CD - innova Recordings

Dos/Two: Fieldnotes (2008) CD – BA Records

Song suite from David Anzuelo’s Minotaur (2008)– The Public Theater

Nylons (2008) one-act opera – Symphony Space

Henrik Ibsen’s Rosmersholm (2007) – 59E59

Jon Fosse’s deathvariations (2007) – 59E59 (NYC)

Killing Play (2007) – LAByrinth Theater Company/The Public Theater

ABC Identity Songs for piano, violin, clarinet, and 2 perc. (2007) –

Brooklyn Museum

Brooklyn Dances for Orchestra (2007) – BAM/Brooklyn Philharmonic

Brooklyn Philharmonic

The Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, commonly known as the Brooklyn Philharmonic, is an American orchestra based in the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City...

Songs from a Socialist Cabaret (2007)

Songs from José (2007) – City Center (NYC)

Music for Juan Felipe Herrera’s Salsalandia (2007) – La Jolla Playhouse

String Quartet No. 1 (2007) – The Tank (NYC)

Echoes of Latin America (2006) – Teatro del Pueblo (Minneapolis)

Song suite from John Michael Garces’ Points of Departure (2006) – Kirk Theater (NYC)

Han Ong’s Swooney Planet (2006) – Ma Yi Theatre Company (NYC)

Impressions of Energy for cello and guitar (2005) – CSI/CUNY

Cristian Amigo: Live LA Sessions (2005) CD – BA Records

Monk Sketches (2005) – El Taller Latinoamericano (NYC)

Craig Wright’s Grace (2005) – Woolly Mammoth Theater Company (Washington D.C.)

The Upside Down Boy (2004) – Making Books Sing (NYC)