Emilio Aragón

La Habana ( 1959 )
Qualified in piano at the Conservatorio Superior in Madrid with Rafael Solís, he continued to study composition at the New England Conservatory in Boston with John Heiss and conducting with Richard Hoenich.

2001

His work "Parks" is chosen to be premiered at the New England Conservatory’s Composers season at the Jordan Hall in Boston in April 2001.

Together with Fernando Bernués, he performs the role of stage director at the IV SGAE Theatre, Music and Dance Awards (Max Awards) where, as guest conductor, he leads the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra.

2002

Having been asked to compose a musical tale, Emilio Aragón premiers his work "El Soldadito de Plomo" (The little lead soldier) in February 2002, based on the popular tale by Andersen. This premiere was performed by the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Emilio at the Canary Islands Classical Music Festival. In May 2002, this programme was repeated when Emilio conducted the Galicia Symphony Orchestra in La Coruña. In September of this year, "El Soldadito de Plomo" premiers in Madrid with the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra at the National Auditorium in the presence of HRH, the Prince of Asturias.

2003

"El Soldadito de Plomo" continues its tour and in March 2003, he conducts the Symphony Orchestra of the Principality of Asturias (OSPA) at the Prince Felipe Auditorium in Oviedo. In July 2003, he conducts the Basque Symphony Orchestra, this time with the text translated into Basque, on a small tour of the most important concert venues in San Sebastian, Bilbao, Vitoria and Pamplona.

2004

In January 2004, his second musical tale "La Flor más grande del mundo" (The biggest flower in the world) premiers at the Canary Islands Classical Music Festival - on the 17th January at the Tenerife Auditorium and on the 24th January at the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium in Las Palmas. This piece of work is based on the children’s story "La Flor más grande del mundo" by the Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, performed by the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and narrated by Saramago’s wife, Pilar del Río.

On the 25th July of this same year, Emilio Aragón premiers "El Soldadito de Plomo" in Italy with a translation into Italian. "La Flor más grande del mundo" is also premiered and performed by the Roma Sinfonietta within the International Festival Siete Soles Siete Lunas (Seven Suns Seven Moons).

In the autumn of 2004 and with the support of the Deutsche Grammophon record label, Emilio releases his first classical music CD titled "El Soldadito de Plomo". The CD is a carefully chosen selection of children’s musical tales narrated by well-loved Spanish celebrities from the artistic world and performed by the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. Two of these pieces were composed and conducted by Aragón.

    .- "El Soldadito de Plomo" (The little lead soldier), score by and conducted by Emilio Aragón, narrated by Ana Duato, text by Andersen.

    .- "La Flor más grande del mundo" (The biggest flower in the world), score by and conducted by Emilio Aragón, narrated by Alejandro Sanz, text by José Saramago.

.- "El Elefante Babar" (Babar the Elephant), score by Poulenc, conducted by Víctor Pablo Pérez, narrated by Julia Gutiérrez Caba, text by Jean de Brunhoff.

.- "El flautista maravilloso" (The wonderful flute player), score by Merino, conducted by Víctor Pablo Pérez, narrated by Nadia de Santiago, text by Merino.

The CD was presented with a concert at the Royal Theatre in Madrid on the 6th November 2004 and was well received by both the audience and the critics. It is the biggest selling classical music CD in Spain in this year.

2005

On the 25th July, he conducts the Cadaqués Symphony Orchestra in a performance of El Soldadito de Plomo adapted for chamber orchestra and translated into Catalan.  

He composes the score for his first ballet, Snow-White. This is a classical ballet based on the classic story by the brothers Grimm and inspired by Spain’s most international ballet dancer, Tamara Rojo.  
"..........dedicated to Tamara, as she dances in my dreams...."
This ballet has been premiered on the 3rd November with with great success, conducted by Emilio at the Arriaga Theatre with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra and on the 9th November at the Albéniz Theatre in Madrid with the Comunidad de Madrid Symphony Orchestra. There are nine unforgettable performances starring the lead dancer Tamara Rojo.

2006

The year of premiere "Bach to Cuba",
 a surprising disc, a way to approach classic music the public in general, attractive and shining.

Bach to Cuba was recorded in direct in the auditorium of Tenerife in the month of June of 2006.
Emilio Aragón directed "to the Symphony orchestra of Tenerife" (interpreting the classic part) next to three Cuban percusionists and Alain Perez to the contrabass. The challenge was to integrate afrocubanos rates in a classic context as they are the concerts of Brandemburgo for which Alain Perez (Alpaca of Lucia, Calamaro…) the continuous one" of Bach, own replaced low "of the Baroque one, by low "tumbao" Cuban, giving the suitable space so that the percussion as a guaguanco, conga, danzón, contradanza, is, bolero… could stand out to its wide ones between created violins, violas,

Emilio’s mid-term projects include a composition for choir, as well as the recording of "Canciones Líricas" (Lyrical Songs), a musical piece of work based on texts by Federico García Lorca within the project "Córdoba, lejana y sola" (Córdoba, distant and alone).

Emilio Aragón adds a long and fruitful career as a musician to his recent successes as a classical composer and conductor, during which time he wrote for both national and international artists such as Celia Cruz, Mocedades, Raimundo Amador and Miguel Bosé.
We shouldn’t forget that he has also composed the theme music for TV programmes such as "Médico de Familia", "Periodistas",  "Siete Vidas", "Javier ya no vive sólo", "Casi Perfectos", "El Gran juego de la Oca", "Noche, noche", for cartoons like "Esquimales en el Caribe", "Defensor Cinco" and "Los Gnomos" and for other productions such as "The Ewoks" and "Droids" by George Lucas, as well as many advert jingles.

Added to this list, there are three LPs recorded at the beginning of the 90s:

    . "Atrapado" 1993
    . "Eso es así" 1992 - gold disc
    . "Te huelen los pies" 1991 - four platinum discs

Latest News

Emilio Aragón
Children’s classics in the Solfa la Redonda collection

Children’s classics in the Solfa la Redonda collection

Two new titles have been added to the Solfa la Redonda collection of CDs for children, which maintains its policy of motivating and encouraging children to get to know classical music, this time counting on the voices of Gonzalo de Castro and Javier
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