Jorge Amado
Full bio
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JORGE AMADO (B.1997) HAVANA, CUBA.
He graduated with highest honors in violin and music theory from the National School of Music (ENA) in 2016. He then received Summa Cum Laude from the University of the Arts of Cuba (ISA) in Composition and Violin with Professors Juan Piñera and Carmen Amador, respectively. He has also received master classes in composition from Eddie Mora, Ileana Pérez, Martin Rokeach and Boris Alvarado.
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As a composer and performer, he has participated in several festivals and events. Among them, the XII Chamber Music Festival in 2015, the Havana Contemporary Music Festivals in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022, the Havana Mozart Festival (2019), the Austin Chamber Music Festival (2017, USA), the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival (2018 and 2022, USA), Mozart+Festival 2022 (Salzburg), Young Euro Classic 2023 (Berlin), Rheingau Musik Festival 2023 (Germany), among others. He also participated in Habana Clásica 2019, where he gave a concert with instruments built by the lutherie workshop of the Office of the Historian of the City where all the works performed were written by him and performed by the Impulsus String Quartet under his direction. He has also performed at the Septiembre Barroco 2019, the Festival Música Nova 1st edition, the Havana Mozart Festival 2019, the Festival Música Sacra 2019 and 2020, and the Festival La Ruta de Mozart 2020 and 2021, among others.
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In July 2023, he participated as violinist and composer in the Cuban American Youth Orchestra conducted by Maestra Daiana García. This was a concert held at the Minnesota Orchestra Hall on the occasion of the International Day of Music, where Jon Kimura Parker, host of the event, premiered with the orchestra a work by Amado, the chamber orchestra version of Del Canto y la rítmica.
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In October 2023, his Concertino for flute, viola, cello and strings was recently premiered at the Merkin Hall of New York with Eight Strings and a Whistle trio as the soloists and the United Nations Orchestra conducted by Predrag Vasić.
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His works have been performed by numerous Cuban and foreign ensembles, including the Cuarteto de Cuerdas Habana, Camerata Romeu, Orquesta de Cámara de La Habana, the Orquesta del Lyceum de La Habana and the National Symphony of Cuba; Catalyst Quartet, Eight Strings & a Whistle, ~Nois Saxophone Quartet, Fear no Music Ensemble and Chicago Jazz Philharmonic (USA); the José White String Quartet (Mexico), the Orquesta Sinfónica de Heredia (Costa Rica) and the Cuban American Youth Orchestra (Cuba-USA).
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​Recently musicians from the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra have included works from Jorge Amado's catalog in their concerts.
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He has been recognized for his work in competitions such as the Concurso de Composición “Harold Gramatges” sponsored by UNEAC (First Prize 2015 and 2021), Alfred Schnittke Competition and Composers Forum (Ukraine, Finalist, 2016), First Prize at the 8SW Composition Competition (2018, USA), 2018 Ojalá Symphonic Creation Award, (whose jury president was the renowned Cuban composer Leo Brouwer), First Prize of the String Quartet Composition Competition "Nuestra América" (2019, Mexico), winner of the “Conmutaciones” Musical Creation Grant (2019), the Ibero-American Performance Award 2020, the Cubadisco 2022 Award in two categories for his first monographic album Ofrenda, among others. He also received the Joven Intérprete 2020 Award, given by Iberorquestas Juveniles, and his work La cesta was mandatory for the National Competition of Lyrical Singing in Cuba, 2022.
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In 2023 he was nominated for a Jeff Award for original music along with Orbert Davis, for the music composed for the play Measure for Measure, directed by Henry Godinez for the Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
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As for his work in audiovisual projects, Amado has composed the music for several feature films, documentaries, video dances and short films, among which stands out the film "El mundo de Nelsito" directed by the prestigious Cuban filmmaker Fernando Perez. He has also collaborated as composer and arranger with the dance company Danza Contemporanea de Cuba.
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As for his participation in recordings, he has participated in the recordings of six national and two foreign recordings in which he has participated as performer, composer or in both roles simultaneously. Among his compositions in the foreign productions are ...And nothing remains the same... by the New York trio Eight Strings & a Whistle under the Ravello Records label, with his work Eidos II; and Nuestra América 2019-2020, the latest album by the José White String Quartet with his String Quartet No. 6 Carnavalesco. In addition, he was selected to create a work for a recording produced in Belgium for the accordionist Didier Laloy.
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Amado has shared the stage with outstanding musicians such as Orbert Davis, Jon Kimura Parker, Niurka González, Nicole Mitchell, Dal Niente Ensemble, Tomeka Reid, Augusto Blanca, Anolan González among others. In Havana, he has also collaborated as an arranger with the embassies of Poland, Portugal, Italy and Norway in concerts.
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His works have been performed in Cuba and in countries such as the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Costa Rica, France, Brazil, Mexico and Spain. His catalog includes works for a single instrument to a wide variety of chamber ensembles, such as duos, trios, quartets, quintets, works for voice, electroacoustic music, mixed music and six works in symphonic format, including his Concerto No. 1 for violin and orchestra "Equinoccio", winning work of the 2018 Ojalá Symphonic Creation Competition and premiered by himself as a soloist with the Havana Lyceum Orchestra conducted by Maestro José Antonio Méndez.
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In addition to his musical career, Amado has written articles for La Jiribilla and Toda la danza magazine as an essayist. He has also taught Music Analysis and Music History at the National School of Music and has worked as a music digitizer at Maestro Leo Brouwer's publishing house Ediciones Espiral Eterna.
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He is a member of the Cuban Agency of Musical Copyright (ACDAM) and the General Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE). He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Composition at DePaul University, where he studies with Dr. Christopher Wendell Jones and Dr. Osnat Netzer. During this period he has performed with DePaul's +20 ensemble, directed by Michael Lewanski. Amado also serves as a Teaching Assistant in Aural Training and Music Theory.
November 2023 – Please do not edit without permission.