Carles santos ventura
Carles Santos Ventura (Vinaroz, Castellón, July 1, 1940-ibid; December 4, 2017) was a multifaceted artist, Spanish pianist, composer, writer and performer.
Biography
He began studying music at a very young age — at the age of five he was already playing the piano. Later he studied at the Superior Conservatory of Music of the Liceo de Barcelona, where he excelled as a student. He continued his studies in Paris, with the teachers Magda Tagliaferro, Février, Casadessus, and Marguerite Long; and later in Switzerland, as a student of Harry Datymer. In 1961 he began performing as a pianist, performing works by Béla Bartók, Schönberg, and Webern.
In 1968 he moved to the US, where he met avant-garde musicians such as John Cage, whose later style, attitude and aesthetics marked his style, which he toured as a performer on stages around the world.
In the seventies he founded, together with Josep Maria Mestres Quadreny, the Grupo Instrumental Catalán (GIC). During this time he met Pere Portabella, with whom he began to work in the cinema, as a composer, interpreter, scriptwriter and even director.
Throughout his career he received several special commissions, such as the music for the show Concert Irregular, by Joan Brossa, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the birth of Joan Miró. He also composed and conducted the fanfares for the opening ceremony of the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, as well as the Fanfare for 2001 musicians for the opening of the Valencia Arts Biennial.
He received various awards and decorations, such as the National Composition Award from the Generalitat of Catalonia (1990); the City of Barcelona Music Award (1993); the City of Barcelona Award for International Projection (1996); the Creu de Sant Jordi (1999), and several MAX awards for his stage shows. He was awarded the 2008 National Music Award in the Composition category.
In addition to his musical, cinematographic and stage production, Carles Santos is also the creator of an important plastic work, mainly photographic.
He was the guest artist at the 12th Mediterrania Fair in Manresa in 2009.
The Vinaroz City Council, on August 17, 2003, granted him, in recognition of his artistic career, his name to a street in the municipality where he lived.
In 2011 he was the guest artist at El Viñedo de los Artistas by Mas Blanch i Jové in Pobla de Ciérvoles, Lérida, leaving La Sargantaneta, his boat, sailing on top of an oak tree.
He died on December 4, 2017 in his hometown, in Vinaroz, Castellón, due to cancer.