Education Alfonso Fuentes (b. Alfonso Luis Fuentes Colón, 1954) is a Puerto Rican composer, pianist, poet and educator. Formally studied at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and, in the New England Conservatory where he was admitted in to five different music specialties. A great part of his education consisted in the extracurricular rich interaction with musicians, artists, and related personnel, of all genders and styles, cultures and places.
Performers Performers of his music include: Sinfonía Varsovia; Sichuan Philharmonic; Puerto Rico Symphony. Members of the Chicago Symphony; Los Angeles Philharmonics; Cuba and Winston-Salem symphony orchestras; Silk Road Ensemble; San Francisco Chamber Players. The American String Quartet; Cuarteto de Cuerdas Inocente Carreño; Warsaw Wind Quintet; Across The Grain; Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston; Aulos, Camerata Caribe; NU Ensemble; Festival de Jazz Borikén Orchestra; San Juan Ballet and many others. As well as faculty members and students from the universities of Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Colorado at Boulder, Houston-Tillotson; Texas at Austin; California State at Sacramento, Maryland-College Park; Central Florida; Cal Arts Institute; Yale; Wisconsin-Madison; Northwestern-Evanston; Instituto Superior del Arte; Conservatorio Nacional de Guatemala; Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, and many others; and by distinguished artist, in places in: Poland, Denmark, Norway, England, China, Japan, Israel, Spain, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, USA and Puerto Rico. Click here for a list of Works
Commissions and endorsement Has been commissioned and/or endorsed by: Treetops Chamber Music Society | Institute for Puerto Rican Culture | National Endowment for the Arts | The Rockefeller Foundation | Puerto Rico Community Foundation | American String Quartet | The Mary Lufft and Company | Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes de Guatemala | Taller Boricua Inc. | Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College-CUNY | North/South Consonance, Inc. | Capitol Normal University of Beijing | Sichuan Conservatory | Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico | Universidad de Costa Rica | San Ignacio de Loyola College | APAOSS | Colegio Latinoamericano de Compositores | Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba | Asociación Nacional de Compositores Puertorriqueños | The Puerto Rico Department of State | The Puerto Rico Tourism Company | Delta Airlines | Corporación Arpegio | Oskar Espina-Ruiz; Kathleen Jones; Saxton Rose | and others.
Artistic residencies and presentations Artistic residencies as ‘classical music’ composer, soloist pianist of improvisation, and/or scholar includes: Puerto Rican Soundscapes (New York) | Descolonizando la Música (Consejo de la Música de las Tres Americas, Puerto Rico, 2017) | Cine Campus Puerto Rico, 2014 and 2016 | The Caribbean Meets Shu (Beijing and Chengdu), 2015 | Claribongo, at Sichuan Conservatory, 2012 | XI Seminario de Composición Musical, Costa Rica | Boricua Rhythms Conference, in the State University of New York at Albany | The Bongo Passion Tour-2010 (by places in New York and Connecticut including Symphony Space, Loft Artist Gallery in Stamford, Teatro del Museo del Barrio, Manhattan School of Music Composer’s Forum | Celebración Jubilar El Camino de la Belleza, in Mexico City | Jubileo 2000-Israel | XV Latin American Music Festival and II Congress of Music Composition, in Caracas | La Havana XVIII Music Festival | X and XI Forum of Center America and the Caribbean Composers, in Guatemala City and Veracruz respectively | Primer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Compositores, in Buenos Aires, organized by the Consejo Iberoamericano de la Musica (Argentina and Spain) and by Sociedad Argentina de Autores y Compositores.
As commercial musician As commercial pianist has participated in more than 6000 presentations and/or interventions in the vast diversity of the music industry media, including a variety of TV shows; two soap operas for Telemundo TV; hundreds of recordings and jingles; fiestas patronales y verbenas, etc., and has made over 300 tours by several continents; also have been music director, arranger and producer. The performance’s venues include: Carnegie Hall; Town Hall; Tupperware Auditorium; Jackie Gleason Auditorium; Plaza del Centenario in Sao Paulo-Brazil; Seville World’s Fair; Atlapa Convention Center; Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Stadium; Hiram Bithorn Stadium; José Miguel Agrelót Coliseum; dozens of night clubs and hotels from Haiti to Atlantic City. Working with these and many, many others Latin figures: Nydia Caro, Placido Domingo, Erwin Scrott, Sandro, Gina Maria Hidalgo, Los Hispanos, Lizzette Alvares, Ednita Nazario, Yolandita Monje, José José; Raúl Vale; Rocio Jurado; Angela Carrasco; Charitín Goyco; Iris Chacón; Danny Rivera; Lunna; Lourdes Robles; Franco de Vita; Braulio; Basilio; Dagmar; Lucecita Benitez; Antonio Cabán Vale; Andy Montañez; Willie Colón. And with orchestras and bands of Quique Talavera; Pedro Rivera Toledo, Wisón Torres Jr.; Walter Rodriguez; Tony Sanchez; William Cepeda; Mandy Vizozo; Jorge Laboy; Angel ‘Cucco’ Peña; Jorge Calandrelli; Jesús Caunedo’s All Star Jazz band, and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, among many others.
Author Alfonso Fuentes is author of seven unpublished book of poetry, stories and aesthetic; and of various articles on music and society published in the local newspapers El Nuevo Día and Claridad. In Poemas de Música (Music Poems) in particular, he exposes a wide spectrum of his music thought (See the list included)
Educational concepts and students Has designed various educational concepts-methods, among them: Graphic exercises for the musical matter visualization | Graphic sequences for the compositional development of the musical variations | Numerical table for the chord charts comprehension | Methodology: The Variation’s world |
An important sector of his under graduate level composition students at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico were accepted to pursue graduate education in important schools mainly in USA, including Harvard, Princeton, Julliard, New England Conservatory, New York University, Michigan State. Some of them are making an international career as composer in a variety of genders.
Socio-cultural activities From 2005 to 2008 Alfonso presented and defended three law projects proposal before the Legislature Assembly of the Government of Puerto Rico in behalf of musician’s jobs and music composition development in his country. Two of them were written and co-written by him while acted as President of the Musicians Syndicated of Puerto Rico. The other was presented as independent musician.
Was founder of the Coalition for the Development of Music Creation in Puerto Rico, (2005). President of the Sindicato de Músicos de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Musicians Union, 2007-2009). Advisor (2009) for the Music Division of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. Founder (2010) and artistic director of the Puerto Rican Congress of Music Creation of the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico where he acted as Interim Dean of Academics Affairs, and serves as Associated professor of Composition and Orchestration. In 2013 he creates the China-Puerto Rico Music and Cultural Exchange; an informal friendship agreement between several artists from the mentioned countries, lead by composer Zou Xiangping and Alfonso Fuentes to build bridges of mutual understanding and exchange of ideas.
Music recordings His music has been recorded by CEMCA, HyperUnison, HIMA, Kklarinet, ANCO, Salsoul Records.
Writings on him Alfonso Fuentes is discussed in several doctoral and graduate dissertations for universities in USA, Spain and China, as well on various books, dictionaries and other publications (See References). These institutions include: Maryland-College Park | Texas at Austin | Sichuan Conservatory | Wisconsin-Madison | Catholic University of the Americas | Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey | Universidad de Valencia in Spain. | Also, in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, Second edition | The Grove Music On Line | A Biographical Dictionary of Distinguished Leadership | Diccionario de Compositores Puertorriqueños | World New Music Magazine | Resonancias. | And books and/or articles published in: IDRS Press | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | Routledge | CentroWeb-Hunter College | Tiempo Nuevo | Plaza Mayor | Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico | Prensa RUM | El Nuevo Dia, etc.|
Distinction and Nominations Fuentes was nominated to the X Latin Grammy as Best classical contemporary composition. His artistic trajectory have been recognized by the Institute for Puerto Rican Culture (1995); by the Guatemala’s Ministry of Culture and Sports (1998); by Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, Mexico (2001), by Conferencia Franciscana, Mexico City (2009); by Grupo Cultural la Ceiba (in 2011 and 2014); by the Municipal Government of Canóvanas, Puerto Rico (2014). The Professor Alfonso Fuentes Scholarship -which is an annual prize for university students in Composition- was instituted in by the Corporación Arpegio in 2012. In 2017 this non-profit organization also instituted the Alfonso Luis Fuentes Colón Award.
Three museums of arts and culture in his country recognize his trajectory though the exposition of his music scores, photos and memorabilia. These are: Museo Casa del Compositor Hector Flores Osuna, in Caguas; Sala Histórica Sergio E. Calzada Rivera, in Canóvanas; and the Museo de la Música Rafael Ithier, in Guaynabo.
Hobby and living Alfonso Fuentes is an abstract photography enthusiast. He is married, has three children, and lives in his beloved Puerto Rico.