American composer Miguel del Aguila was born 1957 in Uruguay. He moved to the US in 1978 and received his B.A. from San Francisco Conservatory. He then traveled to Vienna to further his musical studies. After ten years there, during which time he was active as a composer, pianist, conductor and music teacher, he returned in 1992 to live in Southern California. Numerous premieres of his works followed, and in 1994 local critics chose him "resident music man of the year" (Los Angeles Times) and to "cap the list of our top 10 people to watch" (The Star). He was honored with a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award in 1995 and a California Arts Council Artist in Residence Award in 1996. Miguel del Aguila's catalog of over 50 compositions includes opera, orchestra, choral, solo, and chamber works, as well as music for theater and TV.
His orchestral works have been commissioned and performed by the Welsh BBC Symphony, Odessa Philharmonic, Budapest Youth Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Tucson, Santa Barbara, Long Beach, Ventura, and New West Symphony orchestras, New York's Cosmopolitan Symphony, the New Juilliard Ensemble, the American Music Ensemble-Vienna, the Mendocino Festival Orchestra, the Ojai Camerata, the Bach Camerata, and by university orchestras in the US and abroad. The long list of performers of Aguila's chamber music includes renowned European, Asian and American ensembles and soloists, as well as members of such orchestras as the Berlin, Vienna, Oslo, Dresden, and Moscow Philharmonics.
Premieres of his works in international music festivals and concert series have been broadcast worldwide by ORF-Austria, BBC, RAI, Ukrainian TV, Slovenian Radio. Eight of his orchestral and chamber works have been recorded on CD by Metro, Albany, and the ACA labels in the US, and by SONY-Austria and KKM-Vienna in Europe. Recent CD releases include Presto II on New Albion, performed by the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, and Woodwind Quintet No. 2 on Helicon, performed by the Borealis Woodwind Quintet.
The numerous awards received by Aguila for his work include: California Arts Council Artist in Residence Award, 1996; Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, 1995; several Meet The Composer Awards; City of Ventura Arts Fellowship, 1994 and &146;95; and first prizes in United Students Of The Americas Competition (New York 1988), Olympiad Of The Arts (California, 1984), and the AEMUS and Jeunesses Musicales Competitions (Montevideo '77 and '78). An active pianist and conductor, Miguel del Aguila performed as soloist with several orchestras and directed numerous ensembles. He has appeared at Carnegie Recital Hall and Merkin Hall in NY, and at Konzerthaus and Bösendorfer Hall in Vienna. He was the conductor and music director of the Ojai Camerata from 1995-1999.
In the summer of 2002, del Aguila was resident composer with the Cactus Pear Music Festival in San Antonio, Texas, and with the Chautauqua Music Festival, where performances included his Piano Concerto (with the composer as soloist) and the premiere of his string quartet "Life is a Dream" by the Audubon Quartet.