Armando Santiago

Santiago, Armando

Santiago, Armando. Composer, conductor, teacher, administrator, b Lisbon 18 Jun 1932, naturalized Canadian 1972; premier prix music history (Lisbon Cons) 1954, premier prix composition (Lisbon Cons) 1960. After lessons in singing and piano he studied conducting with Hans Münch in Lisbon and Franco Ferrara in Siena. In 1960 he went to Paris to study the techniques of musique concrète with Pierre Schaeffer in the research service of the ORTF. On grants from the governments of Portugal and Italy he worked 1962-4 in Rome with Boris Porena privately and with Goffredo Petrassi at the Accademia Santa Cecilia, obtaining a diploma for advanced studies in composition. Later, he taught theory and composition and conducted orchestra classes in Lisbon.

Arriving in Quebec in 1968, Santiago became a teacher at the Cons de Trois-Rivières and served 1974-8 as director. During the 1977-8 season he conducted the CBC Quebec Chamber Orchestra in a concert of his own works. He has also conducted orchestras in Portugal, and was guest conductor of the Trois-Rivières Symphony Orchestra and (summer 1984) of the Schloss Pommersfelden Collegium Musicum SO in West Germany. Santiago has composed a Suite for bassoon and piano (1960), Soneto de Camões for baritone and string orchestra (1966), Requies for male choir and 25 instruments (1979-83), Undecassônia (1975) and Trame (1985-9) for orchestra, and works for various vocal and/or instrumental groupings such as Sinfonia (1966, written for the JM) Sonata 1968 (commissioned by the University of Lisbon), Simetrias (1970), Prismes (1970), Heterogenia-Movimento per 32 solisti (1971, commissioned by the Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon), and Musique pour quatre (1988). In 1962 he wrote the score for Ernesto de Sousa's film Dom Roberto. In 1978 Santiago began teaching composition at the CMQ, where he was director 1978-85. His pupils have included Pierre-Michel Bédard and Gilles Bellemare. Santiago is a member of the CLComp.