Odaline de la Martinez facts for kids

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

Odaline de la Martinez has conducted many top orchestras and music groups around the world. These include all the BBC orchestras in Great Britain, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the Australian Youth Orchestra. She is also known for her work on BBC Radio and Television and has made many recordings.

Her Life Story

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 a difficult time in Cuba, her parents sent her and her sister to live with their aunt and uncle in the USA.

Education and Early Career

Odaline went to Tulane University in New Orleans, where she studied both music and mathematics. She graduated with top honors in 1972 and received several important awards. These awards, including a Marshall Scholarship from the British government, allowed her to continue her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. There, she studied composition and piano. In 1976, she co-founded the Lontano Ensemble with flautist Ingrid Culliford. With Lontano, she conducted the first performance of Judith Weir's The Consolations of Scholarship in 1985.

Martinez earned her Master's degree in composition from the University of Surrey in 1977. She then received awards from the American National Endowment for the Arts (1979) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1980). These awards helped her compose her first opera, Sister Aimee: An American Legend, which premiered in 1984.

Making History and Promoting Music

In 1984, Odaline de la Martinez became the first woman to conduct at a BBC Promenade Concert at the famous Royal Albert Hall. This was a very important moment in her career.

In 1987, she received the Villa Lobos medal from the Brazilian government. This was to honor her efforts in promoting the music of Heitor Villa Lobos and other Brazilian composers. Her dedication to sharing Latin American music with audiences in the UK and Europe continued. In 1989, she helped organize VIVA!, a festival of Latin-American music, at London's South Bank Centre.

In 1990, she was made a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. In 1992, she started LORELT (Lontano Records Limited). Her goal was to release recordings that featured the work of living composers, women composers, and Latin American composers from all time periods. Her record label has released over 30 CDs that have received great reviews.

In 1994, Martinez conducted the BBC Proms premiere of Ethel Smyth's opera The Wreckers. She later recorded this work and other orchestral music by Ethel Smyth.

Composing and Festivals

After a break, Martinez started composing music again in 1998. She wrote music for a radio play for BBC Radio 4 and the Hansen Variations for Piano (1999). In 2008, she finished her second opera, Imoinda. This opera tells a story about slavery and the beginnings of Afro-Caribbean culture.

In 2006, Odaline de la Martinez and the Lontano Ensemble started the London Festival of American Music. This festival aims to introduce UK audiences to a wider range of music from modern American composers. The festival has been held every two years since then, featuring many important UK premieres of new works.

Her Compositions

Odaline de la Martinez has composed a wide variety of musical pieces. Her works include operas, pieces for orchestras, and music for solo instruments.

Major Operas

• Sister Aimee: An American Legend (1978–1983): This opera was first performed at Tulane University in 1984. It was also performed in London and California.
• Imoinda: A Story of Love and Slavery (2006–2018): This is a trilogy of operas that can be performed together or separately. The complete trilogy premiered in London in 2019.
  • ==== Part I: Imoinda (2006) ====
  • ==== Part II: The Crossing (2013) ====
  • ==== Part III: Plantation (2018) ====

Other Notable Works

• Litanies (1981): A piece for harp, flute, and string trio.
• Suite for Cello and Cor Anglais (1982): Written for cello and cor anglais.
• Canciones (1983): For voice, percussion, and piano.
• String Quartet (1984): A piece for a string quartet.
• Cantos de amor (1985): For soprano, violin, viola, cello, and piano.
• Misa breve afrocubana (1975): A revised version of an earlier choral work.
• A las cinco de la tarde (1972/2018): Based on a poem by Federico García Lorca, for voices.
• O Absalom (1977): For countertenor, tenors, baritone, and bass voices.
• Two American Madrigals (1978): Choral pieces based on poems by Emily Dickinson.
• Psalmos (1977): For voices, brass quintet, timpani, and electric organ.
• Five Russian Songs (1987): For soprano and string orchestra.
• Suite from 'Imoinda' (2018): An orchestral suite from her opera.
• Little Piece (1975): A short piece for solo flute.
• EOS for Solo Organ (1976): For organ and an assistant.
• 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.
• Hallucination (1975): An electronic tape piece.
• Visions and Dreams (1977-78): Another electronic tape piece.
• Lamento (1979): For amplified voices and tape.
• Three Pieces for Percussion and Electronics (1980): For percussion and tape delay.
• Five Imagist Songs (1974): For soprano, clarinet, and piano.
• Phasing (1975): For chamber orchestra.