Sojo, Vincente Emilio

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Sojo, Vincente Emilio

Sojo, Vicente Emilio, Venezuelan conductor, pedagogue, ethnomusicologist, and composer; b. Guatire, Dec. 8, 1887; d. Caracas, Aug. 11, 1974. He studied music at the Academia de Bellas Artes in Caracas (1910). In 1921 he became a prof. of theory at the Escuela Superior de Mùsica in Caracas. In 1937 he founded the Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela and the choral ensemble Orfeón Lamas, which became of prime importance in the musical culture of Venezuela. Sojo was also active in national ethnomusicology; he collected and harmonized several hundred Venezuelan folk songs and church hymns of the colonial period. He composed mainly sacred music, motets, and organ pieces.

Bibliography

R. Fernández, V.E. S. (Caracas, 1968)).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire