Moisès
Bertran Ventejo
Moisès, Bertran Ventejo
Currículum
Born in Mataró (Barcelona, Spain) on February 27th, 1967, and also a Colombian citizen since August 2011, Moisès Bertran i Ventejo holds undergraduate degrees in music: Superior Professor of Piano; Superior Professor of Solfeggio and Music Theory; and, Superior Professor of Composition and Orchestration, all three by the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu de Barcelona. He also completed a Master's in Music and a Doctorate in Musical Arts, both postgraduate degrees in Composition with a secondary emphasis in Piano Performance, at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford (Connecticut, USA). His main teachers have been Salvador Pueyo and James Sellars, in composition, and Maria Jesús Crespo and Luiz de Moura Castro, in piano.

Teacher of Piano, Theory, Orchestration and Composition in Spain, USA and Colombia, he has worked at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu de Barcelona; Municipal Conservatory of Music of Igualada (Barcelona); The Hartt School, University of Hartford (Connecticut, USA); Universidad EAFIT (Medellín, Colombia), institution in which he also served as Head of the Music Department (2004-2005). He is currently Tenure Professor of Composition, Full Time with Exclusive Dedication, at the Conservatorio de Música of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, a conservatory he directed from 2008 to 2010.

Between the years 2003 and 2008 he was the director of the 'Semana Colombo-Catalana', of which he held 5 editions, a contemporary music festival around the music of the 20th and 21st centuries from Colombia and Catalonia, sponsored mainly by the Catalan cultural institution Institut Ramon Llull, the Universidad EAFIT and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

His production currently has more than 100 titles. Many of his works have been frequently performed in concert, having won several awards with some of them both in Europe and in America, including: 3rd prize at The New Symphony Vienna - International Composers Competition, 2020, for his work 'Three Instances in the Memory' (version for oboe and orchestra); 1st Prize Maria Dolors Calvet i Prats, 3rd edition, Vilafranca del Penedès, 2012, for his work 'Six Preludes for Piano'; 3rd Oreste Sindici Prize, Italy, 2003, for his work 'Miniatures for Gaudí'; 2nd Prize in the Francesc Civil International Composition Competition - Ciutat de Girona, 1996, for his work 'Trois Chançons de l’Acadie' (version for soprano and string orchestra); Youth Honorable Mention at the '12th Musical Composition Award for Cobla, Ceret-Banyoles', 1996, for his work 'Paisatges'; 2nd Prize at the XVII National Association of Composers USA - Young Composers, Los Angeles, 1995, for his work 'Variaciones para Itziar' (version for violin and piano); New Sounds New Haven Award, 1993, for his work 'String Quartet, Hartford'; IX Constitution Prize - Junta de Extremadura, 1991, for his work 'Els Bells Camins' (for mixed choir and instrumental group); 3rd Prize 6th Composition Competition for Young Composers - Generalitat de Catalunya, 1990, with his Opus 1 'Theme with variations', for solo piano.

In August 2006 he premiered and directed his work 'Homenajes, suite in 8 movements and epilogue for 22 pianos' in the Colombian city of Medellin with wide international recognition. He has reviewed and finalized the 'Quintet for Piano and Strings Op. 49 in G minor' by the Spanish composer Enric Granados, a work that in the current version by Moisès Bertran is edited by the Editorial Boileau of Barcelona and recorded by the Spanish record label COLUMNA MÚSICA. With this same label he has produced three monographic CDs: 'Variacions i Fantasia' (2007), which contains music for solo piano, piano for four hands and chamber music, with Moisès Bertran being the pianist for the entire production; 'Suau, la teva veu' (2012), with almost all of his Lied production, in the voices of Rosa Mateu, Laura Alonso and Mónica Luezas, also with Moisès Bertran at the piano; and, the most recent, 'Camins de vidre' (2020), which contains eight chamber works for violin, viola, and piano, most of them written for Ala Voronkova, who is the violinist in the production, masterfully accompanied by her husband, Guerassim Voronkov on piano and viola, performing solo the 'Six Preludes for Piano'. He also has a fourth monographic CD that was released in April 2016 which contains a large part of his symphonic production: 'Momentos Sinfónicos' (Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia).

In October 2017, he premiered his first opera 'The Last Day of Francisco Pizarro' with great public and critical success, with a libretto by the same composer based on the homonymous novel by the Peruvian writer Alberto E. Massa Murazzi, in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, and in cooperation with the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo; a great production that brought together soloists, choir, ballet and symphony orchestra, under the general baton of maestro Guerassim Voronkov. The leading roles were in the voices of five outstanding Latin American singers: Ariel Cazes (Francisco Pizarro, El Marqués); Andres Veramendi (Atahualpa); Xavier Rivadeneira (Francisco Martin); Rudi Fernandez (Francisco Pizarro, El Capitán); and Ximena Agurto (Ana Suarez).

He has recently incorporated traditional instruments into his composition. With traditional Korean instruments he has composed: 'Haebangchon Trio', for Haegeum, Daegeum and Gayageum; 'Imagined Recollections', for Haegeum, Piri-Taepyongso, piano and percussion; and 'A Gimhae Fantasy', for an instrumental ensemble of 25 Gayageums and two percussionists. 'Tres Instances in the Memory' is his contribution to the repertoire for Tenora, with a concertino for this traditional Catalan instrument and symphonic orchestra.

He was elected a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda American Musical Honor Society in 1994 and, since 1993, he has been a member of the Catalan Association of Composers. His music is published by Clivis Publicacions, La Mà de Guido, Amalgama-Tritó, Dinsic Publicacions Musicals, Ediciones Universidad EAFIT, Piles Editorial de Música and Editorial Boileau.

During most of the year 2020 and on the occasion of a sabbatical year granted by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, he carried out a residency as 'Researcher-Scholar' at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford (Connecticut, USA).
www.moisesbertran.com
Contact
The composer can be contacted by:
Associació Catalana de Compositors
Pg. Colom 6 · Espai IV
08002 · Barcelona

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