Adomián, Lan
Adomián, Lan
Adomián, Lan, Russian-born Mexican composer; b. near Mogilev, April 29, 1905; d. Mexico City, May 9, 1979. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1923, and studied at the Peabody Cons. of Music in Baltimore (1924–26) and at the Curtis Inst. of Music in Philadelphia (1926–28), where his teachers were Bailly (viola) and R. O. Morris (composition). He moved to N.Y. in 1928, where he conducted working-class choruses and bands. In 1936 he joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and went to Spain to fight on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War. Upon his return to America, he wrote music for documentary films. In 1952 his radical politics made it prudent for him to leave the U.S. He moved to Mexico and became a naturalized citizen. Adomián was uncommonly prolific as a composer. Among his voluminous works are an opera, La Macherata (1969–72), a dramatic scene, Auschwitz, for Baritone and Instruments (1970), 8 syms., choruses, and songs.
Bibliography
La voluntad de crear (2 vols., Mexico City, 1980–81).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire