Mario Gosálvez

Mario Gosálvez Blanco was born in Madrid, Spain in 1965. He started his music
studies at Madrid’s Royal Conservatory from 1980 to 1986. He was a disciple of
José Alamá, Valentín Ruiz, and Ernesto Halfter while also attending composition
classes with Antón Garcia Abril and Román Alis.
In 1987, he traveled to the United States to study composition with Elinor Armer
and David Conte at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He also took part
in Alden Jenks’ Seminars on Electronic Music and attended classes at the Early
Music Exploratorium in Berkeley, California with Laurette Goldberg. While there,
he studied the harpsichord with Gideon Meir and early chamber music
interpretation. He composed and premiered works for piano, a “Missa Brevis” for
chorus, organ and strings, various works of sacred music, and a suite for three
guitars, “Noche”, which, with the support of soloist David Tannenbaum and the
“Amsterdam Guitar Trio”, entered the repertoire of chamber music for guitar.
In the summers of 1988 and 1989, he continued his composition studies with
George Tsontakis at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado; there he composed
and premiered chamber music projects.
In the fall of 1989 he went to the Manhattan School of Music in New York to study
composition with Nils Vigeland and George Tsontakis and orchestration with
Gianpaolo Bracally. As part of the concert and lecture series “New Music by New
Composers”, he premiered among other works, his Sextet “Danza del Silencio”,
“Destellos” for guitar and trumpet and “Requiem para dos voces”.
In 1991 he premiered his string quintet “Prosgeanode” at the Lincoln Center’s
Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. He graduated in 1991 from the Manhattan
School of Music and won first prize in composition for his experimental work for
orchestra.
Since the fall of 1991, he has lived in Madrid where he combines composing with
other diverse musical projects for advertising, television, theater, dance, and film.
For twenty-five years, he served as composer and musical producer for the
Cadena SER radio network in Radio Madrid’s studios. He also composed music
for other stations such as Radio Madrid-FM, M-80 Radio, Cadena 40 Principales,
and Sinfo Radio.
In 1998, the United National Cultural Association commissioned him to compose
a work commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.
His Symphonic Poem premiered under the direction of Pascual Ossa at the
National Auditorium of Madrid. In April 2002, this work was performed at a private
concert in honor of the United Nations Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan in the
Royal Theater of Madrid. The work was directed by Max Bragado Darman and
performed by the Madrid Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
In recent years, he has composed a variety of choral pieces. In addition, he has
composed several works for chamber music, including the piano piece “Notch”,
recorded by Gustavo Diaz Jerez for the Spanish National Radio station, Radio 2,
and two grand orchestra overtures. His violin and symphonic orchestra concert
“Arlequin” was awarded the XX Queen Sofia Prize for Musical Composition in
2002 by the Ferrer Salat Foundation. It premiered at the Monumental Theater of
Madrid and was broadcast on live national radio in October 2003. The concert
was performed by Spanish Radio and Television’s orchestra and directed by
Adrian Leaper. Manuel Guillen was the violin soloist.
A range of institutions like Siemens, Rafael del Pino Foundation, The Leon
Spanish Music Festival, the Authors Society General of Spain, and the United
Nations Cultural Association of Madrid have commissioned him for orchestral
works. The Complutense Lyrical Society together with the City Hall of Alcalá de
Henares commissioned a choral and orchestra suite to premiere in October 2005
for the commemorative concert in honor of the 400th anniversary of Don Quijote.
His works have been performed by orchestras including the Orquesta de Radiotelevisión
Española, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, American Wind Symphony
Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmonía de España, Orquesta Ciudad de Alcalá; and
chamber ensembles like the Camerata de Madrid and the Orquesta de Cámara
Ibérica, Bratislav Symphony Orchestra (BSO). The Chamber Strings Film Music
Band from the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded several of his film
scores for domestic and international commercial productions.
Music directors who premiered his works include: Pascual Osa, Adrian Leaper,
Robert Austin Boudreau, Max Bragado Darman, Vicente Ariño, and David
Hernando. Virtuoso performers Manuel Guillén (violín) , Adam Levin (guitar),
Gustavo Díaz-Jerez (piano) premiered his orchestral, solo, and chamber works
and have them in their repertoires.