ALFONSO L. FUENTES COLÓN: Rapsodia Urbana (2021)

Posted on October 28, 2021

The inspiration behind Alfonso’s piece Rapsodia Urbana, which PYP will perform on November 13, 2021, was one of the many social events the composer experienced during María; a category 5 hurricane that in 2017 struck Puerto Rico, his home country. When Maestro David Hatter asked for a work as part of the Youth Orchestra Commissioning Initiative, the composer was thinking in a particular urban song coming day and night, very loudly and with no considerations, from a lodging of foreign students that he was listened in his street for several weeks, when there was no running water or electricity, and despite the social devastation.

In the effort to transform that particular annoying social-sound experience in something useful, the composer made variations on that urban song’s motif, to realize the theme of Rhapsody. The theme is announced and developed through various tempo changes. The work also contains elements of the Caribbean “Clave de Rumba” (Rhumba key).

Alfonso thanks Maestro Hattner and the Portland Youth Philharmonic for this opportunity.

ABOUT ALFONSO
Alfonso Fuentes Colón is a Puerto Rican composer, improvisation concert pianist, poet and educator. His work has been performed by the Sichuan Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, Puerto Rico Symphony; Across the Grain, American String Quartet, Warsaw Wind Quintet; members of the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia, Los Angeles Phil, Yoyo Ma Silk Road Ensemble and many others. By distinguished soloists, and faculty, students and guests of a score of American universities including Michigan, Wisconsin-Madison, Yale, and institutions and places in three continents.

As former Interim Dean of Academic Affairs and current Associate Professor at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico he has successfully developed and implemented new teaching resources.

Fuentes have been Visiting Fellow in Princeton University; Residence composer and/or visiting artist in Music Mountain Academy;  universities of Albany, Virginia, Hunter College-CUNY, Sichuan Conservatory, Capital Normal University of Beijing among others; and participated in various music forums in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela. His piano performances comprise over six thousand global presentations across the music industry spectrum.

A Latin Grammy Nominee as Best contemporary composition, Fuentes’ creation is discussed in prestigious academic publications and in doctoral dissertations in China, Spain and USA. Frequently interviewed by media outlets on cultural topics and has been an advocate before the Legislative Assembly for the development of music creation and local music employment in his beloved Puerto Rico.