Odaline de la Martinez

Odaline de la Martinez was born in 1949 in Matanzas and grew up in Jovellanos, a cane-sugar manufacturing town in the same province. After the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961 her parents decided to send her and her sister to live with their aunt and uncle in the United States. She enrolled at Tulane University, New Orleans, where she studied both music and mathematics, graduating summa cum laude in 1972 and receiving several awards upon graduation - a Marshall Scholarship from the British government, and a Danforth and Watson Fellowships - which allowed her to continue her studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied composition with Paul Patterson and piano with Else Cross and where she founded Lontano Ensemble in 1976 with Ingrid Culliford. With Lontano she conducted the premiere of Judith Weir's The Consolations of Scholarship at the University of Durham in 1985 (subsequently recording it with Linda Hirst in 1989). Martinez received her MMus in composition from the University of Surrey in 1977, where she studied with Reginald Smith Brindle. This was followed by composer awards from the American National Endowment for the Arts (1979) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1980), supporting the composition of her first opera Sister Aimee: An American Legend (1984), with a libretto by John Whiting. Sister Aimme was premiered at Tulane University in 1984, followed by two other productions at the Royal College of Music (1987) and in Marin County College, California, in 1995. In the 1980s, Odaline de la Martinez had a weeknight show on BBC Radio Three. The show was engaging, an education in new music. In 1984 Martinez became the first woman to conduct at a BBC Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. In 1987 she was awarded the Villa Lobos medal from the Brazilian government for her championing of the music of Heitor Villa Lobos and other Brazilian composers. Her continuing commitment to showcase the music of Latin America for UK and European audiences led her in 1989 to co-direct with Eduardo Mata VIVA! - a festival of Latin-American music - at London's South Bank Centre. In 1990 she was made a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and in 1992 she founded LORELT (Lontano Records Limited) with the intent of promoting the work of living composers and women and Latin American composers from all periods. The label has since released over 30 CDs to critical acclaim. In the summer of 1994 Martinez conducted the BBC Proms premiere of Ethel Smyth's The Wreckers, later released on CD by Conifer Records. A CD recording of Smyth's orchestral music for Chandos Records followed, and in 2016 the first complete recording of The Boatswain's Mate. A project for a complete recording of Smyth's Fête Galante, by Retrospect Opera, was announced in August 2016. After a gap of almost 10 years, Martinez began composing again. First, music to a radio play commissioned by BBC Radio 4 (1998), followed by the Hansen Variations for Piano (1999) - commissioned by the Music Department of Tulane University. In 2008 she completed her second opera, Imoinda, with a libretto by Joan Anim-Addo about slavery and the beginning of the Afro-Caribbean culture. In the autumn of 2006 together with Lontano Ensemble she founded the London Festival of American Music aiming to introduce UK audiences to a broader spectrum of works from contemporary American and US-based composers, and it has continued to be celebrated biennially since then. Several major works have received their UK premieres there, including works by John Harbison, Marjorie Merryman, Daniel Asia, Peter Child and Roberto Sierra.

Mezzo Soprano, Tenor, Baritone, SATB Chorus, Strings, Brass Quintet Premiered at Tulane University in April 1984 to celebrate the university's 150th anniversary. The UK premiere was held at the Royal College of Music in London in June 1987, and the work was also performed at Marin County College, California in 1995.

Complete trilogy premiered in February–March 2019 at The Warehouse, London, as part of the 7th London Festival of American Music. The operas can be performed individually or as one.

Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, 2 Tenors, Baritone, Mixed Voice ensemble SATB, Strings, 4 Percussionists A video of selected scenes from Imoinda was filmed in 2015 with an Opera America Grant for Female Composers.

Soprano, Tenor, SATB Chorus, Strings, 3 Percussionists Commissioned and premiered by Tulane University in 2014 with the Xavier University Choir and soloists of the Louisiana Philharmonic. The UK premiere was held in November 2014 at the 6th London Festival of American Music, performed by Eclectic Voices and Lontano Ensemble.

Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor, SATB Ensemble, Strings, 4 Percussionists Premiered at the 7th London Festival of American Music in 2019 by the Lontano Ensemble, soloists and Festival vocal ensemble.

Harp, Flute, String Trio Premiered by Lontano at the Wigmore Hall in London, 1981, and broadcast by the BBC. Premiered in the US by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. Also performed as part of the Irish Lontano tour in 1987.

Cello, Cor Anglais Commissioned and premiered by the McGrath duo at St George's Hanover Square in London in June 1982.

Voice, Percussion, Piano Commissioned and premiered by Janis Kelly and Simon Limbrick with Timothy Barrett at the Wigmore Hall in May 1983. Toured with Lontano for Eastern Arts (UK), in Canada, and broadcast by the CBC.

String Quartet Commissioned by the Roth Quartet with funds from The Arts Council of Great Britain and premiered by them at the Purcell Room in January 1985.

Soprano, Violin, Viola, Cello, Piano Commissioned by Chester Festival and premiered by Domus in July 1985. Subsequently, performed by Lontano at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste Berlin and at St John's Smith Square in London. US premiere held at Merkin Hall in New York City in 1990.

Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass Revised version of an earlier work. Originally premiered by the Choir of Palo Verde High School in Tucson, Arizona in 1966. The revised version was performed by the Choir of the Royal Academy of Music, London, conducted by Michael Procter in 1975.

3 Sopranos, 2 Altos, 2 Tenors, 3 Basses Based on a poem of the same title by Federico García Lorca. Performed by the Choir of the Royal Academy of Music, London, 1972, conducted by Michael Procter, and revised in 2018.

Countertenor, 2 Tenors, Baritone, Bass Premiered by the Michael Procter Consort at the Seven Oaks Festival in May 1977.

Choir On two poems by Emily Dickinson. Commissioned for the Cork International Choral and Folk Dance Festival in 1978 by the Ruth Drady Memorial Trust, and premiered by the Oxford Schola Cantorum. Recorded by the BBC Singers for BBC Radio 3.

Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, Brass Quintet, Timpani, Electric Organ Premiered at Western Washington University in November 1977. UK premiere held at St John's Smith Square in London by the choir of the University of Surrey.

Soprano, Tenor, SATB Chorus, Strings, 3 Percussionists From the opera, Imoinda. Commissioned and premiered by Tulane University in 2014, with Xavier University Choir and soloists of the Louisiana Philharmonic. UK premiere held in November 2014 at the 6th London Festival of American Music, performed by Eclectic Voices and Lontano.

Soprano, String Orchestra Commissioned by the Covent Garden Festival with funds from London Arts and premiered by the London Chamber Symphony in September 1987.

2 fls, 2 obs, 2cls, 2 bsn, 2 hns, 4 percs, strings Funded with a grant from the Cintas Foundation.

Solo flute Premiered by Judith Pearce at Dartington Summer School in 1976. Performed in Israel and broadcast in New Zealand by Ingrid Culliford.

Organ, Assistant Premiered by Susan Heath at St Bride's Church, London and performed at Coventry Cathedral.

Soprano, Piano On poems by Sylvia Plath. Premiered at the ISME Festival in Montreaux, Switzerland. Broadcast by the BBC. Performed and broadcast in Romania and Belgrade, Yugoslavia. US Premiere held in 2018 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Also performed in 2019 at Florida International University, Miami, and by North/South Consonance at Christ & St Stephen's Church in New York City.

Flute, (Inside the) Piano Premiered at Carnegie Recital Hall, New York, by Lyn McLarin and Jonathan Rutherford in November 1977. UK Premiere at the Purcell Room by Ingrid Culliford. Broadcast by Radio Beograd.

Solo Violin Premiered in October 1978 at the Istanbul Arts Festival. UK premiere at a SPNM concert in 1980 by Irvine Arditi.

Solo Piano Commissioned by Eleanor Alberga with funds from the Arts Council of England and premiered by her at Southbank Centre's Purcell Room, London.

Solo Violin Commissioned by Sophie Langdon and premiered by her at the Purcell Room in London. Broadcast by the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 3.

Solo Piano Commissioned by the Music Department of Tulane University and premiered there by Daniel Weilbaecher Jr. that year.

Electronic Tape Premiered at the Salzburg Seminar for Contemporary American Music in April 1976.

Electronic Tape Premiered at the University of Hawaii and performed at the 1978 International Computer Music Conference of Chicago, and at various American universities.

Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor, Bass (all amplified), Tape Premiered by Electric Phoenix at St John's Smith Square in London in 1979, and performed in Holland and at the University of York.

Percussion, Tape Delay Commissioned and premiered by James Wood, with funds provided by the Eastern Arts Association, at the Wells-on-Sea Arts Centre, and performed again at the Purcell Room, London.

Soprano, Clarinet, Piano Premiered at the Kelso Festival in Scotland by soprano, Sarah Mosely, and clarinetist, Rory Allam, with the composer at the piano.

Chamber Orchestra, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Divided Strings Premiered by the Manson Ensemble at the RAM. Also performed at the Zagreb Music Biennale and at the University of Surrey.