Carlos Miranda

Last updated

Carlos Miranda
Carlos Miranda photo by Christoph Ehlers.jpg
Carlos Miranda in 2013
Born(1945-01-17)17 January 1945
Santiago, Chile
NationalitySpanish-Chilean
Alma materThe Royal College of Music, London
Occupation(s)Music composer, pianist, conductor and actor

Luis Carlos Miranda Cordal (born Santiago, Chile, 17 July 1945), also known as Carlos Miranda is a Spanish composer, pianist, conductor and actor.

Contents

Life and career

He was born in Chile, where he studied at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música  [ es ] composition with Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt and piano with Flora Guerra. [1] He moved to Italy and worked as apprentice in films by Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet) and Pier Paolo Pasolini (Teorema). He then settled in London, initially working nights as accompanist to American cabaret singer Militia Battlefield (portrayed in Jana Bokova's 1975 documentary film of the same name, [2] and days as pianist repetiteur at The Dance Centre (Covent Garden) for various dance teachers among which: Errol Addison, Matt Mattox, Brigitte Kelly and John O'Brien.

He won a British Council Scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London studying piano with Harry Platts, composition with John Lambert and conducting with Vernon Handley. After graduating, he joined the Rambert Dance Company (1974–78) as pianist and resident composer, playing and writing scores for both dance performances and concerts with the Mercury Ensemble.[ citation needed ]

In 1977 he wrote the music for the full-length dance-theatre work "Cruel Garden", choreographed by Christopher Bruce, scenario and direction by Lindsay Kemp. The piece, based on the life and death of Federico García Lorca, [3] has since been staged by various dance companies in the UK, [4] [5] Germany and the USA. [6] The BBC television adaptation, directed by Colin Nears, won the Prix Italia Music-1982. [7]

His association with Lindsay Kemp began with his earliest creation for Rambert Dance Co., the recently revived ballet "The Parades Gone By". [8] [9] He then joined the Lindsay Kemp Company writing the music and collaborating in the creation of various dance-theatre productions that toured Europe, the Americas, Israel, Singapore, Japan and Australia: "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Mr. Punch's Pantomime", "Duende, Poema Fantastico per F. Garcia Lorca", [10] "The Big Parade" (Producciones Julio Alvarez), "Nijinsky il Matto" (Teatro Alla Scala, Milano), "Cinderella, a Gothic Operetta" (Cenicienta S.L), "Variété" (Susumu Matahira-Tate Corporation), "Dreamdances" (Italian tour 2001) [11] and "Elizabeth I, the last dance" [12] [13]

Carlos Miranda has produced scores for movies directed by independent Spanish film-makers, among which: Celestino Coronado’s "Hamlet" (1977) [14] and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1984), [15] Manuel Huerga's "Gaudì" (1988), Félix Rotaeta's "The Pleasure of Killing" (1988) and "Chatarra" (1991).

In 1992, Miranda composed the music, and conducted the Ciutat de Barcelona Orchestra, for the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony of the 1992 Summer Olympics. [16] [17] He also created the soundtrack for the official video of the Seville Expo '92.

In 1993 he conducted the Orquestra de Cambra Teatre Lliure in performances of his score for the full-length ballet "El Jardiner" for Compañía de Danza Gelabert Azzopardi. In 1997 he wrote the piece "Quell Inocente Figlio" for the BBC Radio 3 series "The Schubert Songbook". In 2004 he composed and recorded the music for multimedia dance spectacle "Glimpse" [18] [19] (Barcelona FORUM) collaborating with choreographer/dancer Cesc Gelabert and American media-dance filmmaker Charles Atlas. That year he also wrote the instrumental piece "Del Amor Insomne Noche" (City of London Festival) later recorded for BBC Radio 3 by the Galliard Ensemble Wind Quintet, with Lucy Wakeford (harp) and Colin Currie (marimba).

Films as an actor

Among the films he has acted in: Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes – 1998), Mauvais Esprit (Patrick Alessandrin – 2003), The Feast of the Goat (Luis Llosa – 2005), Goya's Ghosts (Miloš Forman – 2006), Karol: The Pope, The Man (made for TV, Giacomo Battiato – 2006) and The Promise , (Terry George – 2016).

Discography

Awards

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>A Midsummer Nights Dream</i> Play by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict among four Athenian lovers. Another follows a group of six amateur actors rehearsing the play which they are to perform before the wedding. Both groups find themselves in a forest inhabited by fairies who manipulate the humans and are engaged in their own domestic intrigue. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular and is widely performed.

<i>A Midsummer Nights Dream</i> (opera) Opera by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 64, is an opera with music by Benjamin Britten and set to a libretto adapted by the composer and Peter Pears from William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was premiered on 11 June 1960 at the Aldeburgh Festival, conducted by the composer and with set and costume designs by Carl Toms. Stylistically, the work is typical of Britten, with a highly individual sound-world – not strikingly dissonant or atonal, but replete with subtly atmospheric harmonies and tone painting. The role of Oberon was composed for the countertenor Alfred Deller. Atypically for Britten, the opera did not include a leading role for his partner Pears, who instead was given the comic drag role of Flute/Thisbe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Gilpin (dancer)</span> British dancer and actor (1930–1983)

John Brian Gilpin was a leading English ballet dancer and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Grandage</span> British theatre director (born 1962)

Michael Grandage CBE is a British theatre director and producer. He is currently Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company. From 2002 to 2012 he was Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in London and from 2000 to 2005 he was Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres.

Martha Clarke is an American theater director and choreographer noted for her multidisciplinary approach to theatre, dance, and opera productions. Her best-known original work is The Garden of Earthly Delights, an exploration in theatre, dance, music and flying of the famous painting of the same name by Hieronymus Bosch.

Nick Winston is an internationally renowned English director and choreographer working in theatre, opera and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay Kemp</span> British dancer, actor, and mime

Lindsay Keith Kemp was a British dancer, actor, teacher, mime artist, and choreographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oskaras Koršunovas</span> Lithuanian theatre director

Oskaras Koršunovas is a Lithuanian theatre director.

Alan MacKenzie Howard, CBE was an English actor. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1983 and played leading roles at the Royal National Theatre between 1992 and 2000.

Seeta Indrani is an English dancer and actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Caird (director)</span> English theatre director and writer

John Newport Caird is an English stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas. He is an honorary associate director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, was for many years a regular director with the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and is the principal guest director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm (Dramaten).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Oram</span> British theatre set and costume designer

Christopher Oram is a British theatre set and costume designer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacek Koman</span> Polish actor

Jacek Koman is a Polish actor and singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Festival Grec de Barcelona</span> International theatre, dance, music, & circus festival

The Festival Grec de Barcelona is an international theatre, dance, music and circus festival. Over the course of its history, this long-standing event has become a major summer attraction in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Birkett</span> British dancer, mime artist, actor and singer

Jack Birkett was a British dancer, mime artist, actor and singer, best known for his work on stage as a member of Lindsay Kemp's theatre company, and in the films of Derek Jarman. He was often billed as Orlando or The Incredible Orlando. Most of his best-known work was done when he was totally blind.

Norman Alexander Morrice was a British dancer, choreographer and artistic director of both Ballet Rambert from 1966 to 1974 and the Royal Ballet from 1977 to 1986, the UK's two major ballet companies.

Olga Odanović Petrović is a Serbian theater and film actress. She graduated from acting in 1985 on the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, in the class of Professor Milenko Maričić. She had constant engagement in the Boško Buha Theatre for 18 years, before moving in 2006 to the National Theatre in Belgrade. She is married to actor Dragan Petrović.

Moshe Leiser, born 1956 in Antwerp and Patrice Caurier born 1954 in Paris are two opera directors who have worked exclusively as a couple since 1983. They stage productions at theaters in Western Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celestino Coronado Romero</span>

Celestino Coronado Romero, also known as Celestino Coronado, was a Spanish film and theatre director, writer, dancer and performer who lived most of his life in London. He was artistic director of the Lindsay Kemp Company from 1973 to 1985. He founded Cabochon Film Productions with David Meyer and also collaborated with The Incredible Orlando and with Chilean composer Carlos Miranda.

Kraig Thornber is a British actor, singer and choreographer best known for playing the handyman Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show and Grandpa George in the musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He is a former member of the National Theatre.

References

  1. "Flora Guerra: Biografía".
  2. portadesign s.r.o. "Database". Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.
  3. "Dance". The Spectator Archive.
  4. "As cruel as it ever was". The Daily Telegraph. 16 May 1998. Archived from the original on 21 February 2016.
  5. Article in The Independent about Cruel Garden (1998)
  6. "'CRUEL GARDEN,' ON THE ARTS NETWORK". The New York Times. 5 December 1984.
  7. "Prix Italia Music Past Editions – Winners" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2016.
  8. "Rambert Dance Company Spring Tour 2002 – criticaldance.com ballet and modern dance forum". Archived from the original on 30 August 2002. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  9. John Percival (19 May 2002). "The Parades Gone By, Sadler's Wells, London". The Independent.
  10. El País, article on "Duende, poema fantastico per Federico García Lorca" in Spanish (1980)
  11. On "Dreamdances" Italy, review, in Italian
  12. Article on Elizabeth I, The Last Dance film in Screen Arts Hub
  13. Madrid Teatro, article on "Elizabeth I, the last dance" (2010), in Spanish
  14. Kenneth S. Rothwell (28 October 2004). A History of Shakespeare on film. ISBN   9780521543118.
  15. Derek Malcolm, London Film Festival. "A Midsummer Night's Dream". San Francisco International Film Festival.
  16. NICK KIMBERLEY (24 July 1992). "MUSIC / Competitive scoring: Nick Kimberley talked to Olympic composer". The Independent.
  17. XAVIER HOSTE / Barcelona (21 June 2012). "Una flecha iluminó Barcelona". El Periódico.
  18. The Interactive Imaginings of a Spaniard in the Spotlight.Article in The New York Times about "Glimpse" (2004)
  19. Dance Review: A 'Glimpse' into the senses – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (2004)
  20. "Belgrade International Theatre Festival 1979 Awards". Archived from the original on 5 September 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  21. "Krakow Film Festival 1979 Awards". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  22. "Belgrade International Theatre Festival 1981 Awards". Archived from the original on 5 September 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  23. "Prix Italia Music Past Editions – Winners" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2016.