Graciela Paraskevaidis facts for kids

Graciela Paraskevaidis (born April 1, 1940, died February 21, 2017) was a talented writer and composer. She was from Argentina but had Greek family roots. She lived and worked mostly in Uruguay.

Her Life Story

Graciela Paraskevaidis was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She loved music and decided to study how to create it, which is called composition.

She studied at the National Conservatory in Buenos Aires with a teacher named Roberto García Morillo. She also learned at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella with Gerardo Gandini and Iannis Xenakis from 1965 to 1966. She received a special scholarship (financial help) from the Centro Latinoamericano de Altos Estudios Musicales (CLAEM) to do this.

Later, from 1968 to 1971, she continued her studies in Germany at the Musikhochschule Freiburg/Breisgau with Wolfgang Fortner. She got another grant from the German Academic Exchange Service to help her. In 1972, she also studied in Darmstadt, Germany.

After finishing her studies, Graciela started teaching. She worked as a professor at the Universidad Nacional in Montevideo, Uruguay, from 1985 to 1992. She also continued to compose music. Her musical pieces have been played all over the world, including in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Besides composing, Graciela was also a writer. She wrote two books: La obra sinfónica de Eduardo Fabini (published in 1992) and Luis Campodónico, compositor (published in 1999). She also wrote many articles about 20th-century Latin-American music for magazines like Pauta (from Mexico) and MusikTexte (from Germany). In 2005, she translated a book called Schoenbergs Zeichen by Jean-Jacques Dünki into Spanish.

Graciela was also involved in organizing music events. She helped edit the World New Music Magazine and the yearbook for the ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music). From 1975 to 1989, she helped organize the Latin American Contemporary Music Courses (CLAMC). In 2004, she and Max Nyffeler started a website called latinoamérica música, where she also worked as an editor.

Graciela had citizenship in both Argentina and Uruguay. She lived in Uruguay starting in 1975. She was married to a music expert named Coriún Aharonián.

Awards and Recognitions

Graciela Paraskevaidis received many awards and honors for her work:

• She was invited to stay at the Berliner Künstlerprogramm in Germany by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst in 1984.
• She received the Goethe Medal from the Goethe-Institut in Munich, Germany, in 1994.
• The Government of Greece invited her to attend the First Symposium of Artists and Intellectuals of Greek Origin in 1985.
• She won an award from the Argentine National Endowment for the Arts.
• She received an award from the City of Buenos Aires.
• She was honored with an award from the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, Germany.
• She received an award from the Young Musicians of Uruguay.
• In 2006, she won the Morosoli Silver Award from the Fundación Lolita Rubial in Minas, Uruguay.

Musical Works

Graciela Paraskevaidis wrote music for many different types of performances. Most of her pieces were for:

• Chamber ensemble: Small groups of instruments.
• Choral: Music for a choir (singing group).
• Vocal: Music for singers.
• Piano: Music for a piano.

Here are some of her selected musical works:

• Aphorismen (using words by Karl Kraus), for 2 speakers, piano, percussion, and tape, 1969.
• Mozart (using words by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart), for an actor and an instrumental group, 1970–72.
• magma I, for 4 French horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, and tuba, 1965-67.
• magma II, for 4 trombones, 1968.
• Trio, for flute, clarinet, and bassoon, 1969.
• Mellonta tauta, for accordion, 1970.
• magma III, for flute, trombone, cello, and piano, 1974.
• magma IV, for a string quartet (4 string instruments), 1974.
• magma V, for 4 kena (Andean flutes), 1977.
• todavía no, for 3 flutes and 3 clarinets, 1979.
• magma VI, for 2 trumpets and 2 trombones, 1979.
• más fuerza tiene, for clarinet, 1984.
• magma VII, for 14 wind instruments, 1984.
• dos piezas para pequeño conjunto (two pieces for small group), for oboe, clarinet, trumpet, piano, and claves, 1989.
• sendas, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, trombone, and piano, 1992.
• el nervio de arnold, for guitar, 1992.
• algún sonido de la vida, for 2 oboes, 1993.
• ta, for flute, oboe, clarinet, and piano, 1994.
• No quiero oír ya más campanas (I don't want to hear any more bells), for 14 wind instruments, 1995.
• dos piezas para oboe y piano (two pieces for oboe and piano), 1995.
• hacen así, for 6 percussion instruments, 1996.
• altibajos, for 2 double basses, 1996.
• libres en el sonido presos en el sonido (free in sound, trapped in sound), for flute (and alto flute) and clarinet, 1997.
• La terra e la morte (The Earth and Death, using words by Cesare Pavese), for mixed chorus, 1968.
• libertà goes by ... (using words by Dante Alighieri), for mixed chorus, 1969.
• E Desidero only colori (And I only desire colors, using words by Cesare Pavese), for female chorus, 1969.
• Die Hand voller Stunden (The Hand Full of Hours, using words by Paul Celan), for 9 mixed voices, 1970.
• Schattenreich (Shadow Realm, using words by Hans Magnus Enzensberger), for 4 mixed voices, 1972.
• der Weg (The Way, using words from the Old Testament), for 9 mixed voices and brass ensemble, 1973.
• the outcry, for mixed chorus, 1987.
• discord, for 9 mixed voices, 1998.
• replication, for harpsichord, 2006.
• huauqui, for tape (music created using recorded sounds), 1975.
• A entera revisación del público en general (For the full review of the general public), for tape, 1978–81.

See also

In Spanish: Graciela Paraskevaídis para niños