Luis Antonio Escobar Segura

The native of Colombia, Luis Antonio Escobar Segura, was a musician, composer, and musicologist. His early musical training was heavily infl uenced by the Arevalo family in Villapinzón and later he completed his academic training in Bogotá, United States and Germany. He was an active conductor, professor, composer and radio broadcaster, and has been linked to the national musical movement since 1954. He has also held important positions both at home in the government of Colombia and in the consular service abroad. In 1958 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. His catalog of compositions is extensive and extremely varied and it appears in Volume 8 of the American Composers series, published by the Organization of American States (OEA) in 1962. He composed for many types of ensembles such as orchestras, soloists with orchestra, children’s and female choirs, mixed choirs, stage works, and chamber ensembles. Some of his most important works are: the Colombian Serenade, Divertimento No. 1, Concertino for Flute and Orchestra, the First Symphony (1955), Avirama (ballet, 1956) and two operas The Princess and the Pea and Gangsters, based on a text by the poet Jorge Gaitán Durán. His best known choral works are his peasant cantatas, madrigals and songs for mixed choirs, and his Cánticas Colombianas.