Miguel del Águila

Three-time Grammy nominated American composer Miguel del Aguila was born in Uruguay. In over 135 works that combine drama, driving rhythms and nostalgic nods to his South American roots, he has established himself among the most distinctive and highly regarded composers of his generation. His music, which enjoys over 200 performances yearly, has been hailed as “brilliant and witty” (New York Times), “sonically dazzling” (LATimes) and “expressive and dramatic” (American Record Guide).

He was 2021 composer in residence with Danish Chamber Players/Ensemble Storstrøm, after residences with Orchestra of the Americas, New Mexico Symph, Fresh Ink, CTSummerfest, Talis, and Chautauqua. 2021 commissions include works for Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Eroica Trio and Fivebyfive.

He was honored with 3 Latin Grammy nominations, Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, New Music USA/Music Alive, Magnum Opus Award, Lancaster Symph. Composer of the Year, and Copland Foundation among others.

His music has international appeal and presence with performances by over 100 orchestras, thousands of ensembles and 56 CD recordings. This list includes Royal Liverpool Phil, Welsh BBC, Norwegian Radio Orch, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester; Kiev, Odessa, Heidelberg, Mexico, Buffalo Chicago and Louisiana philharmonic orchestras; Chicago, Toronto, Nashville, Seattle, Albany, San Antonio, Long Beach, Fort Worth, Santa Barbara, Sarasota, Codarts, Reykjavík, Caracas, Puerto Rico and Sao Paulo symphonies.

Artists who perform his works include Leonard Slatkin, JoAnn Falletta, Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Lukas Foss, Gerard Schwarz, Jorge Mester, Guillermo Figueroa, David Allan Miller, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Andrew Litton, Eckart Preu and Jose Arean; LA Chamber Orchestra, SphinxVirtuosi, Windscape, PNME, SOLI, Chicago Phil.Ch.Players, MACE, New Juilliard Ens, Philadelphia Ch.Ens, Collegium Novum Zürich, Kammerensemble Classic, Imani, FifthHouse, Invoke, Pacifica, and Verona quartets.

New/upcoming releases of his works include CDs by Norwegian Radio Orch; Louisiana Phil, Augusta Symph, Cuarteto Latinoamericano and Eroica Trio, on Naxos, Albany, Bridge and Centaur. Festival performances include Aspen, Breckenridge, Cabrillo, Ravinia, Oregon Bach Festival, Minnesota Orch.Sommerfest, Saarburg, Music in the Vineyards, Focus! Bregenz Festspiele, Wiener Festwochen Budapest Spring, Cervantino, San Miguel de Allende, Prague Spring.

A sought after guest lecturer, he also serves on Barlow Endowment’s Board of Advisors. He’s published by Peermusic, Presser and self-published.

After graduating from San Francisco Conservatory he studied at Vienna’s Universität für Musik un Darstellende Kunst. Early premieres in Musikverein and Konzerthaus were followed by Carnegie Recital Hall and Lukas Foss/Brooklyn Philharmonic concerts. Soon after LATimes praised him as “one of the West Coast’s most promising young composers”.