International Activities

This is only a brief listing of the International Institutions with whom the LAMC keeps a close professional relationship.

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Relations with Musical Institutions in the Americas

The main music schools of all Latin American countries keep themselves very close to the LAMC through information requests for music material (repertoire, bibliography, etc.) related to Latin American music. Similar situations occur with Canadian and American universities such as:

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Visitors and Guest Professors

PIANIST EDISON QUINTANA was invited to The Catholic University of America as a Visiting Professor March 15-26, 1999. His activities were presented by the Latin American Center for Graduate Studies in Music and the Piano Department, Benjamin T. Rome School of Music. Maestro Quintana’s visit to The Catholic University of America was sponsored by la Coordinación Nacional de Música del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA); la Dirección de Música de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); la Dirreción General de Cooperación Educativa y Cultural de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, Mexico; The Graduate Student Association of The Catholic University of America.

Edison Quitana was born in Uruguay and completed his early piano studies with Hugo Balzo.  He later obtained scholarships to study in la Academia Musicescu in Romania and also studied with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Guido Agosti in Italy.  In 1966, he was a prize recipient in the International Competition of Leeds, England and in 1970 took first prize in the International Beethoven Competition in Mendoza, Argentina.  In Uruguay, he was Director o f the Conservatorio Municipal de la Ciudad de Maldonado.  He also received first prizes in competitions organized by the Servicio Oficial de Difusión Radioeléctrica (SODRE) and was scholarship recipient of the Juventudes Musicales del Uruguay and UNESCO.  He is the founder of the Filarmónica de las Américas and pianist and arranger for the Conjunto Camerata Punta del Este.  In 1981, he was prize winner in the International Competition of Mexican Music convened by the Coordinación Nacional de Música del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA) and the Fondo Nacional para las Artes (FONAPAS).  He was the first pianist to be invited back to Uruguay in 1985 upon the return of democracy to that country.  In 1987 he made his debut in the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.  In 1996, he was awarded a performance scholarship from the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA), Mexico. His most important recordings include the entire piano works of Manuel de Elías, Rodolfo Halffter, Felipe Villanueva, a recording dedicated to children, and one of tangos.  In addition to the Latin American repertoire, he has performed the complete keyboard works of George Gershwin and all the Beethoven piano sonatas.  He is currently preparing a compact disc dedicated to the piano music of Manuel Ponce.  He recorded for the first time the Piano Concerto of Hermilo Hernández and premiered the Piano Concerto of Héctor Quintanar.  He has completed a series of recordings of Latin
American and Spanish music in duet with cellist Carlos Prieto.  He has also premiered concertos of Britten, Albéniz, Prokofiev, and Bolling.   Prokofiev’s Fourth Piano Concerto received its Latin American premiere with Maestro Quintana as soloist.  In September 1998 he made his debut in the Teatro Miguel Ángel Asturias de Guatemala, performing the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra of that country.  He has traveled throughout the Americas and Europe as a chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist. He is presently concert artist with the Coordinación Nacional de Música del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA) and the Dirección de Música de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), institutions sponsoring his visit to The Catholic University of America.  In addition, his travel has been sponsored by the Dirección General de Cooperación Educativa y Cultural de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, the government institution in Mexico dedicated to cultural exchanges and cooperative educational endeavors. In the Fall of 1998 the Center received three distinguished guests from Ecuador: Maestro Luciano Carrera, Executive Director of the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Quito, who also donated several of his original works to the Center's library; Lic. Washington Granja, Minister of Education and Culture; and Professor Efrén Rojas Ludeña of the Conservatorio José M. Rodriguez in Cuenca.
 
PROFESSOR GRACELA CLARA RASINI (Argentina) was invited to The Catholic University of America as Visiting Professor during the month of January, 1999 to lecture and to do research in the Center.  She presented a lecture in homage to the Argentinian composer and pedagogue ROBERTO CAAMAÑO (1923-1993), specifically on his Piano Quintet, Opus 25 and Concerto for Harp and Small Orchestra, Opus 31.  This lecture was offered in collaboration between the Latin American Center for Graduate Studies in Music and the Composition Seminar, Dr. Steven Strunk, Professor, at the Latin American Center for Graduate Studies in Music of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music on the campus of The Catholic University of America.

Graciela Clara Rasini is currently full-time professor of theory, composition, and piano at the Escuela de Artes y Ciencias Musicales de la Universidad Católica de Argentina, where she received her Master’s in composition and is a regular advisor of the school’s managing board. Professor Rasini studied piano with Robert Caamaño (1923-1993), composer and one of the most important pedagogues in Argentina, who appointed her as his assistant in teaching composition and theory.  After his death, she assumed the responsibility of teaching several of the courses he had offered.  She has done a thorough study of his works, two of which are the subject of the present lecture.  She has also lectured on Argentinian composer Rodolfo Arizaga (1926-1985), and her research has resulted in the publication of the first catalog of his works.  Presently, she is researching the development and stylistic characteristics of the works of Arizaga and has lectured here in the Latin American Center for Graduate Studies in Music on the music of both Arizaga and Caamaño. At the Center for Contemporary Music in Buenos Aires, she has studied twentieth century compositional techniques with composers Godoffredo Petrasi of Italy, Gerardo Gandini, Francisco Kröpfl, and Robert Caamaño of Argentina. She has been the recipient of several scholarships and awards, which include the first place award in the national Argentine piano competition sponsored by the “Black and Ivory Association” and the first prize in the national piano contest organized by the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra.  She is active as a pianist in both solo and chamber music repertoire. Professor Rasini is presently writing articles on Argentinian composers and musicians to be included in the Dictionary of Spanish and Hispano-American Music, a project sponsored by the National Institute of Dramatic Arts and Music and to be published in Spain in collaboration with the International Society of Musicologists.  She is a founding member of the Argentine Association of Musicology and from 1979-1980 was a member of the Advisory Board of the Department of Music at the Escuela de Artes de la Universidad de La Plata.
 
Many professors, musicians and students, from the United States and Latin American countries, visit the LAMC to gather information about its activities and to do research in its music library. The International Visitors Program, The Institute of International Education and the United States Information Agency are some of the institutions that provide the opportunity for these visitors to come to the LAMC. Such visitors include: Mr. Benjamin Juarez Etchenique from Mexico, Dean of the Anahuac University School of Music; Ms. Margarita Herrera, President of the Chilean Council of Music and Executive Director of the Artistic and Cultural Center of the University of Chile; and Ms. Cleofe Person de Mattos of the University of Rio de Janeiro.

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Visiting Professorship Program

The LAMC has developed and enlarged a Visiting Professorship Program by accepting prominent scholars/professors from the Americas and Europe, to research and offer lectures, recitals, courses and seminars in Latin American Music. Among them are:

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Cooperative Agreements with Universities in Latin America

Cooperative agreements between CUA and the University Austral of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and the Catholic University of Lima, Peru have been established in order to develop programs of Latin American studies, research, performance, and promotion in the field of music.

Austral University of Buenos Aires

As a result of the cooperation between CUA and the University Austral of Buenos Aires, signed in 1993, a course on Latin American music for non-music majors was created in that university. Dr. Roberto Cava, professor of the course, had previously come to the LAMC to research Latin American music and to develop a bibliography, syllabus and basic outline for the couse. At the present, Dr. Cava is preparing a publication on Latin American music, sponsored by Austral University.
 

The Catholic University of Lima, Peru

CUA is pursuing a collaborative agreement with the Catholic University of Lima, Peru, signed in 1994. Consequent to the signing, a Center for the Study and Research of Latin American Music was created. Professor Armando Sanchez Málaga has been selected as Director of the Center.

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International Meeting:
The 8th Inter-American Music Education Conference

As part of the Quincentennial of the Discovery of America the LAMC was fortunate enough to host the Eighth Inter-American Music Education Conference in 1991. This conference was formed to promote the study, research and diffusion of Latin American music in the institutions of higher education in the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula. The conference was organized by the LAMC, the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Music Council and the Inter-American Development Bank; along with the cooperation of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Music Division of the U.S. Library of Congress, the Ministry of State for Culture and CONAC of Venezuela, the Ministry of Education and Culture of Argentina, and the International Ibero-American Music Center. Also envolved were all the Permanent Missions of the member states of the OAS. Dr. Emma Garmendia was elected president of the Conference.

 The most eminent Specialists in the field of music were invited to participate. These musicians were from the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula. The followng is a list of scholars who attended the 8th Inter-American Music Conference:

During the 8th Inter-American Music Education Conference, The Catholic University of America recognized the outstanding scholarly contribution of Professor Robert Stevenson by proudly conferring upon him the degree Doctor of Music, Honoris Causa. Dr. Stevenson is Director of Doctoral Dissertations for the Latin American Center for Graduate Studies in Music.
Two separate publications resulted from this important event. These books were sent to a great number of scholars, professors, administrators, and musicians involved with Latin American music.

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