Odaline de la Martinez facts for kids

Odaline de la Martinez (born 31 October 1949) is a talented Cuban-American composer and conductor. She lives in the United Kingdom. Odaline is the artistic director of Lontano, a music group based in London. She helped start Lontano in 1976 with flutist Ingrid Culliford. In 1984, she made history as the first woman to conduct at the famous BBC Promenade Concerts, also known as the Proms.

Odaline has conducted many top orchestras in Great Britain, including all the BBC orchestras. She has also led famous music groups around the world. These include the Ensemble 2e2m in Paris, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian Youth Orchestra. She has also worked with groups in Mexico and Canada. Besides conducting, she has been a broadcaster for BBC Radio and Television. She has also recorded many music albums.

About Odaline de la Martinez

Odaline de la Martinez was born in 1949 in Matanzas, Cuba. She grew up in Jovellanos, a town known for making sugar. In 1961, after the Bay of Pigs Invasion, her parents sent her and her sister to live with their aunt and uncle in the United States.

Her Education and Early Career

Odaline went to Tulane University in New Orleans. There, she studied both music and mathematics. She graduated with top honors in 1972. She received several important awards, like a Marshall Scholarship from the British government. These awards helped her continue her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She studied composition with Paul Patterson and piano with Else Cross.

In 1976, while at the Royal Academy, she co-founded the Lontano Ensemble with Ingrid Culliford. With Lontano, she conducted the first performance of Judith Weir's The Consolations of Scholarship in 1985. She later recorded this piece in 1989.

Martinez earned her master's degree in composition from the University of Surrey in 1977. She studied with Reginald Smith Brindle. She then received awards from the American National Endowment for the Arts in 1979 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1980. These awards supported her in writing her first opera, Sister Aimee: An American Legend. This opera was first performed at Tulane University in 1984.

Breaking Barriers in Music

In the 1980s, Odaline de la Martinez had a weekly show on BBC Radio Three. Her show was very popular and taught listeners about new music.

In 1984, Martinez became the first woman to conduct at a BBC Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. This was a very important moment in her career. In 1987, the Brazilian government gave her the Villa Lobos medal. This was to honor her for promoting the music of Heitor Villa Lobos and other Brazilian composers.

She continued to share Latin American music with audiences in the UK and Europe. In 1989, she helped organize VIVA!, a festival of Latin-American music, in London. In 1990, she became a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. In 1992, she started LORELT (Lontano Records Limited). Her goal was to promote music by living composers, women composers, and Latin American composers. Her record label has released over 30 successful CDs.

In 1994, Martinez conducted the BBC Proms premiere of Ethel Smyth's opera, The Wreckers. She later recorded this work. She also recorded Smyth's orchestral music for Chandos Records. In 2016, she made the first complete recording of Smyth's The Boatswain's Mate.

Composing and Festivals

After nearly 10 years, Martinez started composing music again. In 1998, she wrote music for a radio play for BBC Radio 4. In 1999, she composed the Hansen Variations for Piano. In 2008, she finished her second opera, Imoinda. This opera tells a story about slavery and the start of Afro-Caribbean culture.

In 2006, Odaline and the Lontano Ensemble started the London Festival of American Music. This festival introduces UK audiences to a wide range of works by modern American composers. It has been held every two years since then. Many important works have had their first UK performances there. These include pieces by John Harbison, Marjorie Merryman, and Roberto Sierra.

List of Compositions

Odaline de la Martinez has written many different types of music. Here are some of her main works:

Operas

Sister Aimee: An American Legend (1978–1983)

This was her first opera. It was first performed at Tulane University in 1984.

Imoinda: A Story of Love and Slavery (2006–2018)

This is a trilogy of operas. It tells a story about love and slavery. The complete trilogy was first performed in London in 2019. The operas can be performed separately or all together.

Part I: Imoinda (2006)

This part was filmed in 2015 with a special grant for female composers.

Part II: The Crossing (2013)

Tulane University asked her to write this part. It was first performed there in 2014.

Part III: Plantation (2018)

This part was first performed in London in 2019.

Chamber Music

Chamber music is written for a small group of instruments.

• Litanies (1981): For harp, flute, and string trio.
• Suite for Cello and Cor Anglais (1982): For cello and cor anglais (a type of oboe).
• Canciones (1983): For voice, percussion, and piano.
• String Quartet (1984): For four string instruments.
• Cantos de amor (1985): For soprano, violin, viola, cello, and piano.

Choral Works (A Capella)

These are pieces for a choir without instruments.

• Misa breve afrocubana (1975): A revised version of an earlier work.
• A las cinco de la tarde (1972/2018): Based on a poem by Federico García Lorca.
• O Absalom (1977): For five male voices.
• Two American Madrigals (1978): Based on poems by Emily Dickinson.

Choral Works (with Ensemble)

These are pieces for a choir with instruments.

• Psalmos (1977): For choir, brass quintet, timpani, and electric organ.

Choral Works (with String Orchestra)

• The Crossing (2013): This piece is also part of her opera Imoinda.

String Orchestra

• Five Russian Songs (1987): For soprano and string orchestra.

Orchestra

• Suite from 'Imoinda' (2018): A suite of music taken from her opera Imoinda.

Solos & Duos

These are pieces for one or two instruments or voices.

• Little Piece (1975): For solo flute.
• EOS for Solo Organ (1976): For organ.
• After Sylvia (1976): For soprano and piano, based on poems by Sylvia Plath.
• A Moment’s Madness (1977): For flute and piano.
• Improvisations (1977): For solo violin.
• Color Studies (1978): For solo piano.
• Asonancias (1982): For solo violin.
• Hansen Variations (1999): For solo piano.

Electronic Works

These pieces use electronic sounds or tape recordings.

• Hallucination (1975): Uses electronic tape.
• Visions and Dreams (1977-78): Uses electronic tape.
• Lamento (1979): For amplified voices and tape.
• Three Pieces for Percussion and Electronics (1980): For percussion and tape delay.

Early Works

• Five Imagist Songs (1974): For soprano, clarinet, and piano.
• Phasing (1975): For chamber orchestra.