Carlos
Rafaël Rivera Carlos Rafaël
Rivera was born in Washington, DC, on August 18, 1970, and is the son
of Raul and Maria Rivera of Miami, Florida. As a BMI affiliated
composer, Mr. Rivera's works have been performed in Europe, Canada, and
the United States, including a world premiere in 1997 by the renowned
vocal ensemble Chanticleer. He is also a recipient of The 1998 Guitar
Foundation of America Set Piece Competition Award, The 1998 ASCAP
Foundation / Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, The 44th Annual BMI
Student Composer Award, as well as a residency fellowship from June in
Buffalo. His award winning work "Whirler of the Dance -Three Muses for
Solo Guitar-" is published by Doberman-Yppan, world-wide. He has
completed work on a commission by the LA Guitar Quartet for their second
Sony Classical release. Mr. Rivera graduated Magna cum Laude with a Bachelor in Music Composition degree from Florida International University, where his principal teachers were Fredrick Kaufman, Orlando Jacinto Garcia, and Jon Nelson. He is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Music Composition as Graduate Assistant at the University of Southern California, where he is studying composition with Stephen Hartke and Don Crockett. He has also had Master classes with Richard Danielpour, Joseph Schwantner, Roger Reynolds, Mario LaVista, and Donald Erb. As a guitarist, Rivera is a second prize winner at the D'Addario International Concerto Competition, held in Connecticut in June of 1995. He has worked as studio musician for Emilio Estefan, Jr. and performed with Grammy Award winning Jazz Trumpet Soloist Arturo Sandoval. His principal teacher in classical guitar studies has been Carlos Molina. He has also had Master classes with Ricardo Iznaola, David Russell and Manuel Barrueco. |
| |
|
| 1998 | Guitar Foundation of America Set Piece Competition Award |
| 1998 | ASCAP Foundation / Morton Gould Young Composer Award |
| 199x | 44th Annual BMI Student Composer Award |
| 1996 | National Hispanic Scholarship Fund |
| 1996 | Florida International University Student Ambassador Excellence Award |
| 1996 | National Deans List |
| 1995 | National Guitar Summer Workshop Guitar Concerto Competition Second Prize |
| 1995 | The American Academy of Distinguished Students |
| 1995 | The Golden Key National Honor Society |
| 1995 | The Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society |
| 1994 | Office of the VP for Business and Finance at Florida International University Exemplary Service Award |
Catalog of Compositions
| Solo
Guitar Chase (Summer - 1994) 4 min. Dedicated to Carlos Molina. Mystica (Summer - 1996) 7 min. Commisioned by Ernesto Tamayo. Whirler of the Dance:Three muses for solo guitar (Spring - 1998) 7 min. Dedicated to Rene Izquierdo. Chamber Music Piano Trio (Summer - 1995) 15 min. Piano, Violin, and Cello. Gauge for Eight Players (Fall - 1996) 11 min. Clarinet, Bassoon, Trumpet, Trombone, 2 Percussionists, Violin, Double-Bass. Yambe For Guitar Quartet (Summer - 1999) 5 min. Commisioned by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. |
Orchestral
Music Etude for Orchestra (Summer - 1997) 7 min. QUICHE:Seven Dream Images on Mayan Creation. (Work in Progress - summer 1999) Vocal Music Ave Maria for Alto Voice (Fall - 1998) 2'30 min. Choral Music Motet (Spring - 1996) 7 min. For Twelve Singers, SATB Choir. Solo Flute Five Verses (Spring - 1997) 6 min. For Solo Flute. Commissioned by Elizabeth McNutton. |