>> Biography (extended)
Born in Cuba, composer Keyla Orozco has developed an international career, which started since her study years in Havana, and continued while establishing in The Netherlands and later in the United States, where she currently lives and works.
Awards:
Her compositional work has been awarded with the Guggenheim and the Cintas Fellowships, Composition Grant by Fromm Music Foundation (Harvard University), All Classical Portland's Recording Inclussivity Inniciative Prize, Two-Years Composition Grant by the Dutch Performing Arts Funds, a Residency Fellowship at MacDowell Colony, First and Second Prizes at International Composition Contest René Amengüal in Chile, and the National Cuban prize for Symphonic Composition UNEAC.
Commissions and performances:
Keyla has received several commissions by the main Arts Funding organizations in The Netherlands; and later in the US, to write for internationally acclaimed ensembles and soloists such as: Nederlands Kamerkoor, Nederlands Fluitorkest, Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, Asko Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Ricciotti Ensemble, David Kweksilber Big Band, Mondriaan Kwartet, String Orchestra of New York City, ZOFO piano duet, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, Toomai String Quintet, and many others. Her works are performed in festivals and events around the world at venues such as The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Symphony Space, National Sawdust, The National Opera Center, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw aan het Ij, Bimhuis, and Paradiso Theater , among others.
Other activities:
Her curiosity for exploring Latin-American folk rhythms and the idea of integrating them into her compositions, leaded her in 2006 to realize a field-research on the traditional Venezuelan/Colombian Music known as "Música Llanera". The project was subsidized by the Nederlands Fonds Podiumkunsten (Dutch Performing Art Fund). As a result, her later compositions have been strongly influenced by this music, being the case of 'Estudio del Pajarillo', 'Habanera en Pajarillo voor de gestolen fiets', 'Met de schoenen' 'Piezas de Bolsillo', 'Traveling Shoe Stories', and 'Bridges'.
After organizing diverse inter-disciplinary events in Cuba and he Netherlands, she co-founded in 2004 the Stichting PerpetuumM, a foundation to promote Latin-American Arts and Culture in that country. Festival ‘Q-ba Música’ (2004) and Series ‘Latijns-Amerikaanse componisten aan het ij’ (2006-07) were projects co-directed and produced by Keyla Orozco within this enterprise, in which she worked until 2008. See more...
Teaching:
Orozco's teaching career started as a teacher of Counterpoint at Instituto Superior de Artes in Havana. Then, she has worked in the Netherlands and the US both at institutions and privately. She served as a teaching assistant of Composition in the class of Theo Loevendie at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, and as a Composition and Piano faculty at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. She has led master classes and lectures at Universities, Conservatories, and events in Europe, Latin America, and USA. Keyla has taught Piano, Composition, Theory, and General Music at different private schools and music centers in the Washington DC-Metropolitan Area and New York City, as well as developing her own music composition workshops for children. She is currently serving as a music faculty for Early and Elementary ages at Concord Hill School, in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Music Education:
Keyla received professional music education since the age of 8. She started with Piano at the Esteban Salas Conservatory in Santiago de Cuba, under the solid tradition of the Russian School. She obtained her diploma in Piano Pedagogy and Performance at the National School of the Arts (Escuela Nacional de Artes -ENA-) in Havana, with Maestra Yleana Bautista as a main teacher. She finished her Bachelor in Music Composition under the guidance of Maestro Harold Gramatges at the Higher Institute of the Arts (Instituto Superior de Artes -ISA-) in Havana. Later on, she followed advanced composition studies in The Netherlands with Professor Theo Loevendie, at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague (Koninklijk Conservatorium) and Conservatory of Amsterdam.
Awards:
Her compositional work has been awarded with the Guggenheim and the Cintas Fellowships, Composition Grant by Fromm Music Foundation (Harvard University), All Classical Portland's Recording Inclussivity Inniciative Prize, Two-Years Composition Grant by the Dutch Performing Arts Funds, a Residency Fellowship at MacDowell Colony, First and Second Prizes at International Composition Contest René Amengüal in Chile, and the National Cuban prize for Symphonic Composition UNEAC.
Commissions and performances:
Keyla has received several commissions by the main Arts Funding organizations in The Netherlands; and later in the US, to write for internationally acclaimed ensembles and soloists such as: Nederlands Kamerkoor, Nederlands Fluitorkest, Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, Asko Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Ricciotti Ensemble, David Kweksilber Big Band, Mondriaan Kwartet, String Orchestra of New York City, ZOFO piano duet, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, Toomai String Quintet, and many others. Her works are performed in festivals and events around the world at venues such as The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Symphony Space, National Sawdust, The National Opera Center, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw aan het Ij, Bimhuis, and Paradiso Theater , among others.
Other activities:
Her curiosity for exploring Latin-American folk rhythms and the idea of integrating them into her compositions, leaded her in 2006 to realize a field-research on the traditional Venezuelan/Colombian Music known as "Música Llanera". The project was subsidized by the Nederlands Fonds Podiumkunsten (Dutch Performing Art Fund). As a result, her later compositions have been strongly influenced by this music, being the case of 'Estudio del Pajarillo', 'Habanera en Pajarillo voor de gestolen fiets', 'Met de schoenen' 'Piezas de Bolsillo', 'Traveling Shoe Stories', and 'Bridges'.
After organizing diverse inter-disciplinary events in Cuba and he Netherlands, she co-founded in 2004 the Stichting PerpetuumM, a foundation to promote Latin-American Arts and Culture in that country. Festival ‘Q-ba Música’ (2004) and Series ‘Latijns-Amerikaanse componisten aan het ij’ (2006-07) were projects co-directed and produced by Keyla Orozco within this enterprise, in which she worked until 2008. See more...
Teaching:
Orozco's teaching career started as a teacher of Counterpoint at Instituto Superior de Artes in Havana. Then, she has worked in the Netherlands and the US both at institutions and privately. She served as a teaching assistant of Composition in the class of Theo Loevendie at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, and as a Composition and Piano faculty at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. She has led master classes and lectures at Universities, Conservatories, and events in Europe, Latin America, and USA. Keyla has taught Piano, Composition, Theory, and General Music at different private schools and music centers in the Washington DC-Metropolitan Area and New York City, as well as developing her own music composition workshops for children. She is currently serving as a music faculty for Early and Elementary ages at Concord Hill School, in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Music Education:
Keyla received professional music education since the age of 8. She started with Piano at the Esteban Salas Conservatory in Santiago de Cuba, under the solid tradition of the Russian School. She obtained her diploma in Piano Pedagogy and Performance at the National School of the Arts (Escuela Nacional de Artes -ENA-) in Havana, with Maestra Yleana Bautista as a main teacher. She finished her Bachelor in Music Composition under the guidance of Maestro Harold Gramatges at the Higher Institute of the Arts (Instituto Superior de Artes -ISA-) in Havana. Later on, she followed advanced composition studies in The Netherlands with Professor Theo Loevendie, at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague (Koninklijk Conservatorium) and Conservatory of Amsterdam.