Luis Bacalov

Luis Enríquez Bacalov is an orchestral director, composer and pianist of world renown. Born in Buenos Aires, he began his music education with Enrique Barenboim and continued with Berta Sujovolsky, a pupil of Arthur Schnabel. He then appeared as a soloist, in a duo with the violinist Alberto Lissy and in several chamber music groups. Luis Bacalov researched popular music all over Latin America and performed and recorded extensively the 19th and 20th century American piano repertoire for the Radio and Television of Colombia. From the sixties onward, Luis Bacalov composed film scores, working with directors such as Fellini, Pasolini, Scola, Lattuada, Petri, Rosi, Wertmuller, Greco, the Frazzi brothers and many others. Luis Bacalov received the Oscar for his composition of the music for Il Postino. The soundtracks written for The Gospel According to Matthew, La Tregua, Il Consiglio di Egypt, Il Cielo Cade and Almost American have earned him prizes, nominations and international recognition including the Davide di Donatello, the Golden Globe award, the Nastro d'argento, the Bafta award and the Nino Rota prize. In recent years, Bacalov has also composed significant works for chorus and orchestra, including Misa Tango, his composition for solos, choir and orchestra, which was performed by the National Orchestra of Saint Cecilia with Placido Domingo, Ana Maria Martinez and Hector Ulises Passarella and was recorded by the Deutsche Grammophon. In addition to his activity as a composer, Luis Bacalov continues to perform extensively as a soloist with the orchestra, as well as recitalist and as a member of his own quartet dedicated to the “tango and around” repertoire, a result of his deep knowledge of ethnic, urban and contemporary music. Since 2005 he has been principal conductor of the Magna Grecia Orchestra in Taranto, Italy.