MIGUEL DEL ÁGUILA

“a strong individual and vibrant voice that communicates with extraordinary power. His command of the orchestra is extraordinary and his sense of structure and direction create works that are compelling and memorable. One of the most significant voices in our compositional landscape today”
JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Three-time Grammy nominated American composer Miguel del Aguila was born in Uruguay. In over 130 works that combine drama, driving rhythms and nostalgic nods to his South American roots, he has established himself among the most distinctive and highly regarded composers of his generation. His music, which enjoys over 200 performances yearly, has been hailed as “brilliant and witty" (New York Times), “sonically dazzling” (LATimes) and “expressive and dramatic” (American Record Guide).

He is 2021 composer in residence with Danish Chamber Players/Ensemble Storstrøm, after residences with Orchestra of the Americas, New Mexico Symph, Fresh Ink, CTSummerfest, Talis, and Chautauqua. 2021 commissions include works for Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Eroica Trio and Fivebyfive. He was honored with 3 Latin Grammy nominations, Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, New Music USA/Music Alive, Magnum Opus Award,  Lancaster Symph. Composer of the Year, and Copland Foundation among others.

His music has international appeal and presence with performances by over 100 orchestras, thousands of ensembles and 51 CD recordings. This list includes Royal Liverpool Phil, Welsh BBC, Norwegian Radio Orch, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester; Kiev, Odessa, Heidelberg, Mexico, Buffalo and Louisiana philharmonics;  Toronto, Nashville, Seattle, Albany, San Antonio, Long Beach, Fort Worth, Santa Barbara, Sarasota, Codarts, Caracas, Puerto Rico and Sao Paulo symphonies. Artists who perform his works include JoAnn Falletta, Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop, Carlos Miguel Prieto,  Lukas Foss, Gerard Schwarz, Jorge Mester, Guillermo Figueroa, David Allan Miller, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Andrew Litton, Eckart Preu and Jose Arean; LA Chamber Orchestra, SphinxVirtuosi, Windscape, PNME, SOLI, Chicago Phil.Ch.Players, MACE, New Juilliard Ens, Philadelphia Ch.Ens, Collegium Novum Zürich, Kammerensemble Classic, Imani, FifthHouse, Invoke, Pacifica, and Verona quartets.

New/upcoming releases of his works include CDs by Norwegian Radio Orch; Louisiana Phil, Augusta Symph, Cuarteto Latinoamericano and Eroica Trio, on Naxos, Albany, Bridge and Centaur. Festival performances include Aspen, Breckenridge, Cabrillo, Ravinia, Oregon Bach Festival, Minnesota Orch.Sommerfest, Saarburg, Music in the Vineyards, Focus! Bregenz Festspiele, Wiener Festwochen Budapest Spring,  Cervantino, San Miguel de Allende, Prague Spring.

A sought after guest lecturer, he also serves on Barlow Endowment’s Board of Advisors. He's published by Peermusic, Presser and self-published. After graduating from San Francisco Conservatory he studied at Vienna's Universität für Musik un Darstellende Kunst. Early premieres in Musikverein and Konzerthaus were followed by Carnegie Recital Hall and Lukas Foss/Brooklyn Philharmonic concerts. Soon after his US return LATimes praised him as "one of the West Coast's most promising and enterprising young composers" and San Antonio Express-News as “One of the more intriguing compositional voices to come along in recent years“. He currently lives in Seattle.