Alberto Ginastera

The Argentinian Alberto Ginastera (1916–1983) is one of Latin America’s leading composers. A key influence for Ginastera was experiencing the music of Béla Bartók. This led him to develop the central idea for his work, making use of Latin America’s diverse cultural heritage as fertile ground for art music. Additional influences were then added, notably the music of Alban Berg and Aaron Copland, which Ginastera blended into his own personal stylistic idiom. The special features of his oeuvre include a return to musical ideas found in compositions from highly divergent periods, establishing connections that transcend individual pieces.  

Ginastera was born in Buenos Aires, where he also received his musical education. The premiere of the ballet suite Panambi in November 1937, a year before he graduated, brought his breakthrough as an artist and recognition in his homeland. Ginastera then drew decisive impulses from a visit by Aaron Copland in 1941. The two composers felt a strong artistic affinity – and Copland would become a long-standing advocate for Ginastera, who studied with him in the USA for a short time in the summer of 1946. From the late 1950s onwards, Ginastera became a fixture of concert life in the USA and subsequently in Europe. After experiencing an artistic crisis, he decided to leave Argentina in 1971. He settled in Geneva, where he rediscovered his creative powers in the last decade of his life.

The highlights of his achievements as a composer are stage works and ballets based on Latin American sources, together with instrumental music. In addition, Ginastera was also unusually influential as a result of his lengthy teaching career and management of numerous institutions that attracted young composers from the entire continent.