“30 for 30” Composer Bios
Paola Marquez
Paola Marquez is a Latinx Colombian composer, psychologist, and social worker. She earned two Master's Degrees, one in Composition at Syracuse University, where she received the 2008 Heaton Fellowship, and the other in Social Work at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she received the 2014 Eleanor Cranefield Scholarship. She works in three professional fields, combining her understanding of each to enrich her work across all of them; as she writes, “My artistic leanings influence my style as a social worker and psychologist, and my passion for social work and psychology influence my music.”
Marquez writes, “My mentors, Jorge Pinzon and Dr. Daniel Godfrey, helped me understand how to use my passion for human psychology as inspiration for my work, creating a unique bridge linking art, music, and social issues.” She has written film, orchestral, chamber, choir, and vocal compositions, many of which have been performed in several cities in Colombia, Canada, Australia, and the U.S. Her music has been part of projects such as, the Ruth Ellis Center sponsored by Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, Syracuse Children's Chorus, Detroit Children's Choir, Tree House Ensemble, Society of New Music from 2009-2012, MUSE Cincinnati's Women's Choir, Lima Symphony Orchestra, the University of Michigan en Español concert series, and Boston Unitas Ensemble Orchestra at "Mujeres Concert'' conducted by Lina Gonzalez. In addition, she was commissioned by Juilliard violinist Artur Kaganovkiev; the conductor of the Dearborn Symphony, Kypros Markou; Principal Bass of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Robert Nairn; and French filmmaker Boris Wexler for his movie Our Fathers.
In recognition of her performance and achievement, Marquez earned the Honorable Mention Citation at the International Music Prize for Excellence in Composition Competition in 2011 in Greece and was selected by New Music of the Americas to be part of their album Estampas Americanas in 2022, feature guest composer at Composers Now 2023 founded by Tania Leon. In addition, she had the honor to sit on panels for Chorus America, AIMS Detroit, National Endowment for the Art, National Latino of Latino Arts and Cultures, and the University of Michigan, and she published her research in Music Cognition in SACCOM (2008) and her book Mar Azul. During her career, she worked as an adjunct professor at Syracuse University; a social worker for Say Yes Syracuse, Imagine Syracuse, and Matrix Head Start in Detroit; an education assistant for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; a Director of Program and Operations at Detroit Children's Choir; and a music assistant for the Musica Mestiza Project lead by composer Gabriela Frank.
Currently, Marquez works as a composer and executive-life coach, an Assistant Director at Michigan State University Community Music School-Detroit, and the vice-chair for Intempo Music in Connecticut. In each of these roles, she has developed programs to expand the reach of music in disadvantaged communities and to promote music education.
Jorge Salazar
Jorge Alejandro Salazar, conductor and composer holds a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting from the National University of Colombia mentored by Guerassim Voronkov. Recently, he earned the Artist Diploma in Orchestral Conducting at Lamont School of music in Denver University mentored by Lawrence Golan.
Maestro Salazar reached the semifinal round in the Cadaqués International Conducting Competition 2010, won the best conductor prize in the VI International Choir Festival in Santander, and was awarded with the silver medal in the Seventh World Choir Games in Cincinnati U.S. with “Corpas Chamber Choir” in the champion’s competition category.
Salazar is Music Director at Queen of Peace Catholic Church at Aurora Colorado and headmaster of conducting studies at Corpas University in Bogotá Colombia since 2003. As composer, arranger, pianist and conductor, he was selected artistic director of the Orchestral and Choral Corporation of Colombia since 2004 to 2013. He was the artistic coordinator for the “America Cantat” International Choral Festival 2013 conducting its opening concert with the premiere of the “Cantata America” by José Buenagu, and “Canción por la Esperanza” a piece for mixed and children choir, large orchestra, and soloists of its own authorship.
As a guest conductor he has worked with: Samara State Philarmonic Orchestra (Russia), Togliatti Philarmonic Orchestra (Russia) Lamont Symphony Orchestra, Montclair State University Symphony Orchestra, Tomsk Philharmonic Orchestra (Russia), Boulder Opera, Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, Colombia Symphony Orchestra, Antioquia Symphony Orchestra, EAFIT Symphony Orchestra, Medellín Youth Symphony Orchestra, Tolima s Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Cali Philharmonic Orchestra, University of Concepción Symphony Orchestra (Chile), and Salta Symphony Orchestra (Argentina).
Thanks to an invitation from the Study Mission of Hong Kong, Maestro Salazar and the colombian cellist Sandra Lozano were invited to play in the cities of Macau and Hong Kong a very exciting Latin American music program in Honor to Pope Francis in 2019.
He studied music theory with Jorge Zorro, piano with Pilar Leyva and orchestral conducting with Luis Eduardo Vargas, Guerassim Voronkov, and Markand Thakar; He has attended workshops and master classes with Gustavo Dudamel, Helmuth Rilling, María Guinand, Alberto Grau, Simon Carrington, Luis Gorelik, Andrés Orozco, among others.
On his role as a composer, he won: First prize in Alberto Grau International Choral Composition Contest CICCAG, First Prize in Choral Composition OFB contest for two consecutive years (2014-2015) and the honorific mention in the Ministry of Culture national contest composition for choir and chamber ensemble 2016 with “El Renacuajo Paseador” for choir and chamber ensemble. His works have been performed by the most important choirs in Colombia and he regularly writes for several vocal ensembles around the country. His piece “Rhapsody for clarinet and piano” was recorded by the renowned duo Debussy in 2013 in
the music album “Contrastes” that collects representative musical works of modern Colombian composers. Maestro Salazar has a special interest in the popular music of his region and combines in his compositions Colombian and Latin-American rhythms with the academic language.
Josh Rodriguez
Known for his energetic rhythms, rich harmonic language, and striking colors, Colombian-American composer Josh Rodríguez (b. 1982) continues to gain recognition as an emerging composer and collaborator on a national and international scale. Born in Argentina and raised in Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States, Rodríguez's musical imagination has been formed by this bilingual multicultural heritage.
Rodríguez collaborates regularly with theatre and film directors and has received notable concert commissions in a wide range of musical genres: works include Dos Palabras (winner of the inaugural Springfield Chamber Chorus Composition Competition 2022), When Stone Becomes Forest (winner of THE AMERICAN PRIZE - Professional Band Division 2022), Partita Picosa (a 5movement piece for solo piano), Contra Spem Spero (violin chamber concerto), and That Crazed Girl Improvising (piano trio), all which were finalists for the AMERICAN PRIZE (TIKAL, for concert band received Honorable Mention, 2021).
He's written numerous choral works, music for jazz trio and big band, original scores for Courtyard Shakespeare Festival's productions of Hamlet (2019), Much Ado About Nothing (2022), Richard III (2022), and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (2019), and CBU Theatre's productions of Love's Labour's Lost (2020) and She Stoops to Conquer (2021). In addition to concert and theatre music, Rodríguez has scored numerous independent film projects several of which have appeared in international film festivals and received special awards. His most recent film score is for an adaptation Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST by Rebel Run Studios.
Rodríguez (ASCAP) is composer-in-residence of the Corona Symphony Orchestra, and currently serves as Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the Elmhurst University. He regularly contributes to various arts & culture blogs and is on the Leadership Team of Deus-Ex-Musica an ecumenical and interfaith initiative that brings musicians, clergy, and non-musicians together for concerts and conversations about the intersection of faith and new music.
Rodríguez earned his MM at the Cleveland Institute of Music and upon winning the Eugene V. CotaRobles Fellowship moved west to study a doctorate at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research at UCLA culminated with his dissertation on Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera.
https://www.joshrodriguezmusic.com/
