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FCG International Scenic Arts award 2003: Cristobal Halffter
The Conductor and composer Cristobal Halffter received the FCG International Award in Scenic Arts 2003, awarded today in Valladolid, for “the importance of his contribution to music and the Spanish culture, brought together in a catalog of compositions with universal projection” by the jury presided by: Mr. Andres Ruiz Tarazona, Cultural Adviser of the Autonomous Community of Madrid; and made up of: Ms. Mercedes Guillamon Duch, Manager of the Calderon Theater of Valladolid; Mr. Jose Luis Garcia del Busto, Music Critic; Mr. Daniel Perez Fernandez, Author and Director of the Principal Theater of Zamora; Mr. Manuel Erice, Director of the Daily Newspaper ABC in Castile and Leon.
Cristobal Halffter - Biography
Cristobal Halffter was born in Madrid in the month of March 1930. He studied with Conrado del Campo, finishing in the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid receiving the highest qualification. In 1962, he won by competition the Chair of Composition and Musical Forms of that Conservatory and in 1963 was named the Director of that center. In 1966 he resigned from both positions to be able to dedicate his professional activity to the creation and conductorship of the orchestra.
He was the Honorary President of the International Festival of Contemporary Art of Royan (France) and in 1976 and 1978 he was the Chair of Composition of the Contemporary Music Courses in Darmstadt (Germany). Between 1986 and 1989, he was the Chair of Composition of the Conservatory of Berna. His work as a composer includes a wide creative spectrum that goes from choral music: production and electronic, to the writing for the symphonic formation.
Commissioned by the United Nations and to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, he wrote in 1968 the chant “Yes, speak out, yes” for soloists, recitals, choruses and orchestra, that would debut in the General Assembly in New York.
Among his productions are: “Elegias a la muerte de tres poetas espanoles”, (Antonio Machado, Miguel Hernandez y Federico Garcia Lorca; 1974/75): “Officium Defunctorum”, 1979 for choir and orchestra; the “Doble concierto para violin y orquesta”; “Concierto número 2 para violonchelo y orquesta” written on comisión for the orchestra of the Radio of Baden Baden for Mstislav Rostropovich (1985): “Tres poemas de la lirica espanola para baritono y orquesta” (1985/86); written on comisión for the Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin, “Concierto para piano y orquesta” (1987); “Mural Sonante”, (1993). In his creation of compostions, a profound compromise is reflected with the human and social problems of the contemporary world.
In repeated occasions he has been the leading conductor of important European and American orchestras: (Philharmonic of Berlin, Orchestra of the Radio of Baden Baden, Tonahalle of Zurich, National of France, National of Spain, Symphonic of London, Suisse Romand, Festival of Lucerna, Barmberg, Hamburg,...) for which he is continuously invited to conduct concerts where the programs try to offer, next to the traditional repertory, contemporary works, his own or those of compositors of the 20th century.
He is a Member of the European Academy of Science, Arts and Literature of Paris, in 1981 he received from the King Juan Carlos, the Gold Medal of Fine Arts; in 1983 he was chosen member and entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando of Madrid and in 1985 of the Akademie Der Kunste of Berlin. This same year he was named Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Leon, and in 1988 by the University Compultense of Madrid.
In March of 1988, he received the Gold Medal of the Goethe for his merit in cultural labor in the Federal Republic of Germany. That year he was also awarded the Gold Medal of Fine Arts of the Castile and Leon Council. In 1989, he received the Montaigne Award, of the F.V.S. Foundation of Hamburg for his renovation work of musical language and human content of his work.
He belongs to the Academy of European Sciences, he is a member of the Council of the Prince Pierre de Monaco Foundation, as well as the Emst von Siemens Foundation of Munich (Germany). The Fordermeinschaft der Europaeischen Wirtschaft Foundation awarded him the European Composer of 1994 Award.
In November of 1994 he received the Spanish Music Award from the Jacinto e Inocencio Guerrero Foundation.
Among his latest premieres stand out the following: January 1996 in Dresden (Germany) his work “Memento a Dresden” commissioned by the Philharmonic orchestra of that city to commemorate the 125th anniversary of its foundation. In “Memento a Dresden” the victims of the bombardment of 1945 are paid tribute where this city was victim as well as its “symbolic sisters” Guernica, Conventry and Hiroshima.
In March 1997 he premiered in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under his conduction, the work “Odradek” that this orchestra had commissioned him to do, in order to celebrate the first centenary of its existence. “Odradek” is a tribute that the composer pays to Franz Kafka, at the same time the important commemoration is celebrated by the orchestra of the birth city of the writer.
In February 2000, his opera “Don Quijote” premiered in the Royal Theater of Madrid, a performance that caused a stir in world-wide reviews. Since that same year, he is an Associate Composer of the Symphonic Orchestra of Madrid.
In August 2002, his Fourth String Quartet premiered in the International Festival of Schleswig Holstein by the Veemer Quartet. In that Festival, he conducted the International Resident Orchestra in various concerts with his works.
In January 2003, the Philaharmonic Orchestra of the City of Malaga dedicates him the 9th Contemporary Musical Cycle, which is celebrated during the entire month nine concerts in which his symphonic and production work is included.
In August 2003, in the International Festival of Salzburg his latest symphonic work will premiere, “Adagio en forma de Rondo”, a work commissioned by the festival for the Symphonic Orchestra of Vienna that will interpret the first world-wide audition under the conduction of Semyon Bychkov.
At the same time he continues with his constant conducting activity where he has planned for the upcoming years to be at the head of the most important Spanish and European orchestras.
Since October 2001, he has belonged to the Colegio Libre de Eméritos.