Biography
Jairo Duarte-López
Jairo Duarte-López was born in Bogotá, Colombia. His works have been performed by ensembles such as the New York City Opera, Arabesque Winds, Eastman Triana, Musica Nova, Eastman Composers Sinfonietta, New York Miniaturist Ensemble, Eastman Contemporary Percussion Ensemble, and the Eastman Philharmonia Chamber Orchestra. Most recently his music has been featured at the 2011 Kurt Weill Festival in Germany, the 2009 New York City Opera’s VOX Festival, and the 29th Annual New Music Festival at Bowling Green State University.
Duarte-López’s music includes works for soloists, chamber ensembles, choir, opera, orchestra, electro-acoustic music and multimedia. He is the recipient of numerous recognitions such as the ASCAPLUS Award, McCurdy Prize, Wayne Brewster Barlow Prize, the Paul Sacher Fellowship Award, the Berklee Composition Achievement Award, and the Berklee International Grant.
In 2007, the composer was awarded The National Prize of Music in Composition by the Ministry of Culture of Colombia for the work Ekphrasis sobre “El Miedo” de Tanguy for violoncello solo. The work was commissioned by cellist David Gerstein through the Hanson Institute for American Music of the Eastman School of Music. Other important collaborations include the music for the short film Car Crash Opera by renown artist/animator Skip Battaglia and music for the short film Currents by recognized experimental film maker Stephanie Maxwell.
From 2008 to 2011, Duarte-López served as co-instructor of Film Scoring for the Department of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music and at the Eastman Community Music School in Rochester, New York.
Duarte-López’s studies include a Bachelor of Music in Film Scoring from the Berklee College of Music. He also holds a Master of Arts in Composition from the Eastman School of Music, where he is currently pursuing a PhD. His principal teachers include Vuk Kulenovic, David Liptak, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Allan Schindler and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon.