Fariñas, Carlos

Fariñas, Carlos, Cuban composer and teacher; b. Cienfuegos, Nov. 28, 1934. He was a student of Ardevol and Gramatges at the Havana Cons., of Copland at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood (summer, 1956), and of Pirumov and Rogal-Levitski at the Moscow Cons. (1961–63); later he worked in Berlin on a grant from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (1975–77). After serving as director of the Conservatorio Alejandro Garcia Caturla in Havana (1963–67), he was head of the music dept. of the Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba there (1967–77). In 1978 he joined the faculty of music at the Institute Superior de Arte de Cuba in Havana, where he was founder-director of the Estudio de Musica Electroacustica y por Computadoras (from 1989). His works are generally cast along avant-garde lines. While he used Afro-Cuban folk sources for inspi-ration in some of his works, he eventually embraced the most technologically advanced means of expression, including electronic and computer-processed scores.

Works

DRAMATIC Opera : Escenas (1990). B a 1 1 e t : Despertar (1959–60); Yagruma (1975). ORCH.: Musica for Strings (1957); Relieves for 5 Orch. Groups (1969); Muros rejas y vitrales (1969–71); El bosque ha echado a andar (1976); Punto y tonadas for Strings (1981); Nocturno de enero (1989); En tres partes for Cuban Lute and Strings (1990). CHAMBER: Sonata for Violin and Cello (1961); String Quartet (1962–63); Tiento I for Clarinet, Guitar, Piano, and Percussion (1966) and II for 2 Pianos and Percussion (1969); In rerum natura for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Harp (1972); Tatomaitee for String Quartet and Percussion (1972); Concerto for Violin and 2 Percussion (1976); Impronta for Piano, 4 Percussion, and Tape (1985); guitar pieces. KEYBOARD: Piano : (6) Preludios (1953–64); 6 Sones sencillos (1956–64); Atanos (1972); Alia gracia (1984); Sonero (1992); Conjuro: John Cage in memoriam (1993). OTHER: Choral pieces; multimedia music; tape pieces.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire