(b. July 4, 1930, Santiago). Chilean composer of mostly orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, and piano works that have been performed throughout the world.
Prof. García studied composition privately with Juan Orrego-Salas, Carlos Botto and Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt in Santiago from 1949–60 and also studied analysis privately with Juan Allende-Blin in Santiago during this period.
His honors include the Premio Municipalidad de Santiago (1963, for América insurrecta, Op. 26) and four prizes in the Festival de Música Chilena in Santiago (honorable mention, 1963, for América insurrecta, Op. 26; honorable mention, 1964, for Sombra del paraíso, Op. 27; Third Prize, 1965, for Estáticas, Op. 28; First Prize, 1967, for Firmamento sumergido, Op. 39). More recently, he received an honorable mention in the competition of Providencia municipality (1997, for Dos paisajes urbanos, Op. 119) and commissions from SCD (1999, to compose Díptico sinfónico, Op. 145) and the Instituto Chileno Norteamericano de Cultura (2000, to compose Nacerá la aurora, Op. 164). Most recently, he received the Premio Presidente de la República (2000, for his œuvre), the Medalla de la Música del Consejo Chileno de la Música (2002, for his œuvre), the Premio Nacional de Arte (2002, for his œuvre), and the Medalla Rectoral de la Rectoría de la Universidad de Chile (2002, for his work as an academic). He has also been a member of the Colegio de Compositores Latinoamericanos de Música de Arte since 2000 and a Miembro de Número of the Academia Chilena de Bellas Artes del Instituto de Chile since 2004.
Prof. García is also active in other positions. He worked as a trombonist in the Orquesta Sinfónica de Profesores del Ministerio de Educación de Chile in Santiago from 1956–58 and served as inspector-librarian of the Coro de la Universidad de Chile in Santiago from 1960–63 and as president of the Asociación Coral Chilena in Santiago in 1962. He then served as director of the archives of the Instituto de Extensión Musical (IEM) in Santiago from 1963–67 and as its secretary from 1967–73 and as secretary (1965–68) and treasurer (1968–71) of the Asociación Nacional de Compositores in Santiago. He later served as music advisor to both the Ballet Nacional de Cuba and the Gran Teatro de La Habana from 1979–89. In addition, he has contributed numerous articles to journals in Europe and North America, as well as to the Diccionario de la Música Española e Hispanoamericana (2000, SGAE), for which he served as coordinator of the Chilean delegation. He has served as vice-director of the music journal Revista Musical Chilena in Santiago since 1993.
He taught analysis, harmony, music history, music theory, and solfège part-time at the Conservatorio El Golf in Santiago in 1953, the Conservatorio Ñuñoa in Santiago from 1954–56, the Escuela Moderna de Música in Santiago from 1956–61 and in 1964–65, and the Conservatorio Independencia in Santiago from 1957–59. He served as director of the music department at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago from 1970–73 and as president (1971) and vice-president (1972–73) of its Comisión de Extensión del Consejo Normativo. He later taught analysis, organology, research methodology, and other subjects as a professor at the Escuela Nacional de Música in Lima from 1974–78 and also served as director of its Taller de Investigaciones Musicales. He has taught American and Chilean music, analysis, the history of Chilean music, and organology as Profesor Titular at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago since 1992, where he has also served in numerous other capacities, including as secretary of the Comisión Central de Evaluación Académica since 1999.
Prof. García lived in exile in Peru from 1973–79 and then in Cuba from 1979–89, but has once again lived in Chile since 1989.
Web: http://composers21.com/compdocs/garciaf.htm