A native of Colombia, Ms. Potes moved to the USA in 1983. She became involved in the field of composition in 1990 and has established a career as a composer of a subtle, yet energetic and personal style. In her language, there can be perceived rich European influences blended with occasional traces of rhythms and melodic gestures inspired by Colombian and Latin-American traditional music.
Her most recent performances include, among others, the world premiere at Carnegie Hall of Tukanos for guitar and chamber orchestra by Nilko Andreas Guarín and the Azlo Orchestra conducted by Vince Lee, the premiere of Cantares para Orquesta by the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Venezuela (XVI Festival de Música Latinoamericana) conducted by German Cáceres and the El Salvador premiere by the National Symphony of El Salvador (IV Festival Internacional de Música Contemporánea) conducted by Alfredo Rugeles. Her compositions El Jardín de Tomás was premiered by pianist David Holzman at The African Museum in NJ and Chicago.
Ms. Potes' compositions have been performed by the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony of Colombia, Darmstadt 2000 Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, the Symphony Orchestra of Cali, International Alliance for Women in Music, the ISCM in New York, Parnassus, the Composer's Conference at Wellesley College, the Network for New Music, Momenta Quartet, Ensamble CG (Colombia), The Stefan Wolpe Society, The New York New Music Ensemble, the Institute for New Music in Freiburg, Germany, the ISCM in Seoul, South Korea and at the International Musical Festivals in England, Colombia, Brazil, El Salvador, Germany, Mexico, and Venezuela. Her music has been performed by soprano Susan Narucki, pianists David Holzman, Martha Marchena, Ana Cervantes, Charles Abramovic and Blair MacMillen, saxophonist Marshall Taylor, percussionist Mircea Ardeleanu and violist Stephanie Griffin.
Her orchestral compositions Cantares para Orquesta was selected for the 2002 New Music Reading Sessions of The Women's Philharmonic in San Francisco and her composition Reflexiones was a winner of the 1994 Riverside Symphony's First International Composers Reading Project in New York. Ms. Potes is a winner of 2001-2002 Music of Changes Composer Competition in Los Angeles that included a commission and a concert dedicated to her music.
The New York Times has described her composition, Canciones Nocturnas, as songs that "limn nocturnal shadows exquisitely and are the very soul of brevity" and Cánticos para Cinco as a composition of "calmly weaving counterpoint, undulant dance rhythms and elegant atonal harmonies".
Ms. Potes has received commissions from, among others, the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, Music of Changes, the Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts in Philadelphia, Colombia's Luis Angel Arango Recital Hall/Banco de la República and the Office of Academic Affairs of Hostos Community College. Celebrating Women's Month in March 2006, the Latin American Cultural Center of Queens and the Women's Council of New York recognized her for her outstanding achievements as a composer. Her music is published by the Ministry of Culture of Colombia and Hildegard Publishing Company. She holds a DMA in Composition from Temple University where she studied composition with Matthew Greenbaum, Maurice Wright and Ursula Mamlok. Ms. Potes teaches at The Mannes College of Music, College Preparatory Division in New York. (www.albapotes.com)