Cristóbal Halffter

Cristóbal Halffter studied at Madrid Royal Conservatory. Training under Conrado del Campo is recorded. Manuel Balboa Rodríguez and Montserrat Bellés are recorded as having studied under Cristóbal Halffter. The recorded working language is Spanish, English and German. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are opera. Employment is recorded with Madrid Royal Conservatory. Distinctions recorded are Culture and Science Award of the City of Kiel, BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts and Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise.

Halffter was born in Madrid, but in 1936 the family moved to Velbert, Germany, to escape the Spanish Civil War. They returned to Madrid in 1939, and Halftter studied with Conrado del Campo at the Madrid Royal Conservatory, graduating in 1951. He continued his studies, outside of his university education, with Alexandre Tansman and André Jolivet in Paris.

In 1955, Halffter was appointed conductor of the Falla orchestra. He forged a successful career as composer and conductor, writing music which combined a traditional Spanish element with avant-garde techniques. His neoclassical Piano Concerto (1953) won the National Music Prize in 1954. In 1961 he became Professor of Composition at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid, where he became Director in 1964 but remained only until 1966. Among his notable pupils are Jean-Luc Darbellay, David Philip Hefti, and Javier Jacinto. During the 1960s and 1970s, Halffter composed a number of works relating to human rights, including the 1968 choral work Yes, speak out, yes. In 1984 he served on the jury of the Paloma O'Shea International Piano Competition. He was awarded Spain's highest award for composition, the Premio Nacional de Música, in 1989. Also he has received the 2009 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Contemporary Music. Halffter's works include the opera Don Quijote (2000). His second opera, Lazarus, was premiered in 2008 at the Kiel Opera House to celebrate its centenary. A third opera, Schachnovelle, with a libretto by Wolfgang Haendeler after the eponymous novel by Stefan Zweig, was scheduled to premiere at the same house in May 2013.

He was married to pianist María Manuela Caro until her death on 18 December 2017, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. He died peacefully on 23 May 2021, at the age of 91, in Villafranca del Bierzo, province of León.