Odaline de la Martinez
Encyclopedia
Odaline de la Martinez is a Cuban-American composer and conductor, currently residing in the UK. She is the artistic director of Lontano, a London-based contemporary music ensemble which she co-founded in 1976 with New Zealander flautist Ingrid Culliford, and was the first woman to conduct at the BBC Promenade Concerts (the Proms) in 1984. As well as frequent appearances as a guest conductor with leading orchestras throughout Great Britain, including all the BBC orchestras
, she has conducted several leading ensembles around the world, including the ensemble 2e2m
in Paris, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
, the Australian Youth Orchestra
, the OFUNAM
and the Camerata of the Americas in Mexico and the Vancouver Chamber Orchestra. She is also known as a broadcaster for BBC Radio and Television and has recorded extensively for several labels.
, a cane-sugar manufacturing town in the same province. After the Bay of Pigs Invasion
in 1961 her parents decided to send her and her sister to live with their aunt and uncle in the U.S.A. She studied at Tulane University
, New Orleans, where she read both music and mathematics, graduating summa cum laude in 1972 and receiving several awards upon graduation - a Marshall Scholarship
from the British government, and a Danforth and Watson Fellowships - which allowed her to continue her studies at the Royal Academy of Music
, where she studied composition with Paul Patterson
and piano with Else Cross and where she founded Lontano Ensemble in 1976 with Ingrid Culliford.
Martinez received her MMus in composition from the University of Surrey
in 1977, where she studied with Reginald Smith Brindle
. This was followed by composer awards from the American National Endowment for the Arts
(1979) and a Guggenheim Fellowship
(1980), supporting the composition of her first opera Sister Aimee: An American Legend (1984). Sister Aimme was premiered at Tulane University in 1984, followed by two other productions at the Royal College of Music
(1987) and in Marin County College
, California, in 1995.
In 1984 Martinez became the first woman to conduct at a BBC Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall
. In 1987 she was awarded the Villa Lobos medal from the Brazilian government for her championing of the music of Heitor Villa Lobos and other Brazilian composers. Her continuing commitment to showcase the music of Latin America for UK and European audiences led her in 1989 to co-direct with Eduardo Mata
VIVA! - a festival of Latin-American music - at London's South Bank Centre. In 1990 she was made a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and in 1992 she founded LORELT (Lontano Records Limited) with the intent of promoting the work of living composers and women and Latin American composers from all periods. The label has since released over 30 CDs to critical acclaim.
In the summer of 1994 Martinez conducted the BBC Proms premiere of Ethel Smyth
's The Wreckers, later released on CD by Conifer Records. A CD recording of Smyth's orchestral music for Chandos Records
followed.
After a gap of almost ten years, Martinez began composing again. First, music to a radio play commissioned by BBC Radio 4
(1998), followed by the Hansen Variations for Piano (1999) - commissioned by the Music Department of Tulane University
. In 2008 she completed her second opera, Imoinda , with a libretto by Joan Anim-Addo about slavery and the beginning of the Afro-Caribbean culture.
In the autumn of 2006 together with Lontano Ensemble she founded the London Festival of American Music aiming to introduce UK audiences to a broader spectrum of works from contemporary American and US-based composers, and it has continued to be celebrated biennally since then. Several major works have received their UK premieres there, including works by John Harbison
, Marjorie Merryman
, Daniel Asia
, Peter Child
and Roberto Sierra
.
BBC Orchestras and Singers
BBC Orchestras and Singers refers collectively to a number of orchestras, choirs and other musical ensembles, maintained by the BBC.-Current list of ensembles:* BBC Concert Orchestra* BBC National Orchestra of Wales* BBC Philharmonic...
, she has conducted several leading ensembles around the world, including the ensemble 2e2m
Paul Méfano
Paul Méfano , is a French composer and conductor.-Biography:Paul Méfano pursued musical studies at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, and then later at the Paris Conservatory , where he was a student of Andrée Vaurabourg-Honegger, Darius Milhaud, and Georges Dandelot...
in Paris, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is the national orchestra of New Zealand. It is a crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, with 90 full-time players....
, the Australian Youth Orchestra
Australian Youth Orchestra
The Australian Youth Orchestra is an Australian organisation for young musicians. It operates the flagship Youth Orchestra as well as Camerata Australia, Young Australian Concert Artists and Young Symphonists. It also runs several other activities including master classes, outreach programmes and...
, the OFUNAM
OFUNAM
The Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM was founded in 1936 and is the oldest symphonic group in Mexico City. It is based at Sala Nezahuacóyotl at the University City of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, in Mexico City...
and the Camerata of the Americas in Mexico and the Vancouver Chamber Orchestra. She is also known as a broadcaster for BBC Radio and Television and has recorded extensively for several labels.
Biography
Odaline de la Martinez was born in 1949 in Matanzas and grew up in JovellanosJovellanos
Jovellanos is a municipality and city in the Matanzas Province of Cuba.The municipality is divided into the barrios of Asunción, Isabel, Realengo and San José....
, a cane-sugar manufacturing town in the same province. After the Bay of Pigs Invasion
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...
in 1961 her parents decided to send her and her sister to live with their aunt and uncle in the U.S.A. She studied at Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
, New Orleans, where she read both music and mathematics, graduating summa cum laude in 1972 and receiving several awards upon graduation - a Marshall Scholarship
Marshall Scholarship
The Marshall Scholarship, a postgraduate scholarships available to Americans, was created by the Parliament of the United Kingdom when the Marshall Aid Commemoration Act was passed in 1953. The scholarships serve as a living gift to the United States of America in recognition of the post-World War...
from the British government, and a Danforth and Watson Fellowships - which allowed her to continue her studies at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, where she studied composition with Paul Patterson
Paul Patterson
Paul Patterson is a British composer and Manson Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music.Patterson studied trombone and composition at the Royal Academy of Music. He returned there to become Head of Composition and Contemporary Music until 1997, when he became Manson Professor of...
and piano with Else Cross and where she founded Lontano Ensemble in 1976 with Ingrid Culliford.
Martinez received her MMus in composition from the University of Surrey
University of Surrey
The University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology...
in 1977, where she studied with Reginald Smith Brindle
Reginald Smith Brindle
Reginald Smith Brindle was a British composer and writer.Smith Brindle began learning the piano at the age of six, and later took up the clarinet, saxophone and guitar . Under pressure from his parents, he began to study architecture...
. This was followed by composer awards from the American National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
(1979) and 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...
(1980), supporting the composition of her first opera Sister Aimee: An American Legend (1984). Sister Aimme was premiered at Tulane University in 1984, followed by two other productions at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
(1987) and in Marin County College
College of Marin
The College of Marin is a community college in Marin County, California, U.S., with two campuses, one in Kentfield, and the second in Novato. It is the only institution operated by the Marin Community College District. Its chief executive officer is currently Superintendent/President David Wain...
, California, in 1995.
In 1984 Martinez became the first woman to conduct at a BBC Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
. In 1987 she was awarded the Villa Lobos medal from the Brazilian government for her championing of the music of Heitor Villa Lobos and other Brazilian composers. Her continuing commitment to showcase the music of Latin America for UK and European audiences led her in 1989 to co-direct with Eduardo Mata
Eduardo Mata
Eduardo Mata was a Mexican conductor and composer.Mata was born in Mexico City. He studied guitar privately for three years before enrolling in the National Conservatory of Music. From 1960 to 1963 he studied composition under Carlos Chávez, Héctor Quintanar and Julián Orbón. In 1964 he received a...
VIVA! - a festival of Latin-American music - at London's South Bank Centre. In 1990 she was made a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and in 1992 she founded LORELT (Lontano Records Limited) with the intent of promoting the work of living composers and women and Latin American composers from all periods. The label has since released over 30 CDs to critical acclaim.
In the summer of 1994 Martinez conducted the BBC Proms premiere of Ethel Smyth
Ethel Smyth
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...
's The Wreckers, later released on CD by Conifer Records. A CD recording of Smyth's orchestral music for Chandos Records
Chandos Records
Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...
followed.
After a gap of almost ten years, Martinez began composing again. First, music to a radio play commissioned by BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
(1998), followed by the Hansen Variations for Piano (1999) - commissioned by the Music Department of Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
. In 2008 she completed her second opera, Imoinda , with a libretto by Joan Anim-Addo about slavery and the beginning of the Afro-Caribbean culture.
In the autumn of 2006 together with Lontano Ensemble she founded the London Festival of American Music aiming to introduce UK audiences to a broader spectrum of works from contemporary American and US-based composers, and it has continued to be celebrated biennally since then. Several major works have received their UK premieres there, including works by John Harbison
John Harbison
John Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
, Marjorie Merryman
Marjorie Merryman
Marjorie Merryman is an American composer, author, and music educator. Currently, she is Dean of Academic Affairs at the Manhattan School of Music, where she is also a member of the composition faculty...
, Daniel Asia
Daniel Asia
Daniel Asia is an American composer.Daniel Asia was born in Seattle, Washington, in the United States of America. He received a B.A. degree from Hampshire College and a M.M. from the Yale University School of Music...
, Peter Child
Peter Child
Peter Burlingham Child is an American composer, teacher, and musical analyst. He is Professor of Music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a composer in residence with the New England Philharmonic....
and Roberto Sierra
Roberto Sierra
Roberto Sierra is a composer of contemporary classical music.Sierra studied composition in Europe, notably with György Ligeti in Hamburg, Germany...
.
External links
- Interview with Martinez at BBC 4's Woman's Hour (01/10/2002)
- Detailed biography and discography from the Kapralova Society Website.
- An article on Odaline de la Martinez by Andrew Burns on The Musical Times Vol. 126, No. 1709 (Jul., 1985), pp. 401+403-404
- Lontano's Official Website
- Lorelt's Official Website
- Video of Caroline Balding performing the second movement of Martinez's Improvisations for solo violin