Juan Trigos

Biography

Composer and conductor, creator of the concept Abstract Folklore. This concept is based on principles such as the primary pulsation, the resonance and the obsessive use of polyrhythmic and polyphonic interlocking musical events and segments of different density and duration. In the Abstract Folklore there is an inclination towards big format works, with numerous groups of instruments, characterized by abundant utilization of percussion instruments. It may also be distinguished two main directions: vocal music (opera and sacred music), and instrumental with particular predilection for the Concertante forms.

Among his most representative works are Magnificat Guadalupano, Missa Cunctipotens Genitor Deus, 6 Ricercares de Cámara, and his guitar, piccolo, double-bass and triple concertos. Highlight in particular Symphony N. 1 and the creation of a new genre called Hemoficction Opera[1]. He has presented and conducted in Mexico and Europe his Operas DeCachetitoRaspado and Mis Dos Cabezas Piensan Peor Que Una. His music has been performed in several cities in Europe, and North America, central and south. Recently he presented, recorded, and conducted his own operas and some of his instrumental music in Europe, the United States, and Mexico: Mis Dos Cabezas Piensan Peor Que Una (My Two Heads Think Worse Than One). Opera in three acts. European and Mexican premieres: October 2005, Zagreb (Croatia), XXXIII Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico City and Guanajuato). Academic Choir Ivan Goran Kovacic. Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. DeCachetitoRaspado (CheekToStubbledCheek). Opera in two acts. Orchestral version. Recorded on CD and DVD. September 2004, Saint Petersburg (Russia). Academic Choir Saint Petersburg-Concert. State Symphony Orchestra of Saint Petersburg. DeCachetitoRaspado. Opera in two acts. Chamber version. Performed at Festival Internacional Música y Escena (Mexico City 1999), 22nd Music Biennale Zagreb (Croatia 2003), XXXI Festival Internacional Cervantino (Guanajuato-Mexico 2003), and XXV Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez (Mexico City 2003). Italian premiere: December 8, 2007, XXVI Festival Spaziomusica, Cagliari (Sardinia-Italy). Missa Cunctipotens Genitor Deus, for bass-baritone, choir, two pianos and percussion. July 5 and 7, 2008, Reggio Emilia and Verona (Italy). PromoMusica International Chorus and Ensemble. Concierto Hispano for guitar and chamber orchestra. World premiere: February 9, 2008, Eastman School of Music. Guitar: Dieter Hennings. Eastman BroadBand Ensemble. Symphony N. 1. World premiere: March 10, 2007, México City. Orquesta Sinfónica Carlos Chávez. Triple Concierto N. 2 for flute (picc.), clarinet (b. cl.), piano and orchestra. World premiere: March 3, 2007, Mexico City. Ensamble 3, Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad Autónoma de México (OFUNAM). Ricercare de Camara VI, for guitar and chamber orchestra. Canadian premiere: April 11, 2008, Toronto. Guitar: Dieter Hennings, New Music Concerts Ensemble. Recently performed on February 4, 2007 and September 18, 2008, Eastman School of Music. September 25, 2008, Festival Internacional de Chihuahua (Mexico). Guitar: Dieter Hennings, Eastman BroadBand Ensemble. Concerto for Doublebass and chamber orchestra. World premiere: December 13, 2008, Rochester (NY-USA). Doublebass: Scott Worthington, Eastman BroadBand Ensemble.

As a conductor, has premiered and promoted an extensive catalogue of new works, both in live performance and recording. He has worked with numerous choirs, ensembles and symphony orchestras in Canada, Europe, Mexico and the United States. Highlights of recent and past performances include Birtwistle’s Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum, Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto, Lutoslawski’s Chain 1, (USA and Mexico), Orff, Catulli Carmina (Italy), Víctor Rasgado’s Chamber Opera, El Conejo y el Coyote (Mexico), Elgar’s Symphony N. 1, and Sibelius’s Finlandia (Mexico), Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, (Carlos Chávez Symphony Orchestra-Mexico), Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon’s chamber operas El Niño Polilla and Comala (USA), Beethoven’s Symphony N. 1 (Croatia), Lutoslawski’s Livre Pour Orchestre (Mexico), Respighi’s Lauda per la Natività del Signore, Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Noël (México), Carlos Chávez’s Symphony N. 2 (India), Beethoven’s Symphony N. 6, Stravinsky’s Symphony in C and Varese’s Integrales (Mexico), Chávez’s Symphony N. 1 (Antígona), Manuel de Elías’s Sonante N. 11 and Viola Concerto (Mexico), Bartoks’s Divertimento, and Milhaud’s Percussion Concerto (Italy), Ponce’s Concierto del Sur (Italy).

From 2001 to 2002 he was Conductor and Music Director of the Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes OCBA (National Chamber Orchestra) in Mexico City, performing a variety of genres and styles. Among the works he premiered in Mexico during this time are Berio’s Corale for violin and chamber orchestra, Nino Rota’s Opera La Notte di un Nevrastenico, performances of Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony N. 2, Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine. From 1998 to 2003, he was Principal Conductor of the chamber orchestra Camerata de las Américas, with which he made the Mexican premiere of the Opera La Nef Des Fous of the French composer Thierry Lancino, and the premiere recording of music by three Mexican composers: Silvestre Revueltas (Música para 12 instrumentos, Sonetos de Pellicer), Víctor Rasgado (El Conejo y el Coyote) and his own (DeCachetitoRaspado and Ricercarede Cámara VI). In 1999, he founded the Sinfonietta de las Américas, an orchestra focused on special projects. That year, he recorded for Global Entertainment a CD with orchestral music by German composer Gerhart Muench. In 2000, he released a double CD of Muench’s music for BMG Entertainment.

His academic training includes degrees in Orchestral and Chorus Conducting, Composition, Gregorian Chant and Piano, from leading institutions in Italy and Mexico. His teachers included: Gianpiero Taverna, Franco Gallini and Xavier González (orchestra and chorus conducting), Domenico Bartolucci (basso continuo and antique polyphony chorus conducting), Franco Donatoni, Nicolò Castiglioni and Jesús Villaseñor (composition, analysis, and orchestration), Enzo Stanzani, and Margot Fleites (piano). His experience as a composition teacher is extensive, and includes being Franco Donatoni's Teaching Assistant at the International Composition Courses and the International Festival of Contemporary Music he organized during four consecutive years (1993–96) in Mexico City. As a composer is very active. He is member of the “Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte” (Mexico) and since June 2006 also Associated composer of the “Canadian Music Centre”.

Discography

He has recorded in USA for Bridge Records (2009) and DarkPress. In Italy for Stradivarius and in Mexico for Quindecim, FECA of Veracruz, "Colegio de Compositores Latinoamericanos de Música de Arte" and UAM, BMG Entertainment, Urtext Classics, Global Entertainment, Euram and Spartacus Classics.