Juan José Castro (March 7, 1895September 3, 1968) was an Argentine composer and conductor.
Born in Avellaneda, Castro studied piano and violin under Manuel Posadas and composition under Eduardo Fornarini, in Buenos Aires. In the 1920s he was awarded the Europa Prize, and then went on to study in Paris at the Schola Cantorum under Vincent d'Indy and Édouard Risler. Returning to Buenos Aires in 1925, he was named conductor of the Renacimiento Chamber Orchestra in 1928 and the Teatro Colón in 1930. From 1939 to 1943 he was a professor at the Buenos Aires Conservatory.
Castro's international career began in the 1940s. In 1947 he conducted the Havana Philharmonic, and the Sodre Orchestra in Uruguay in 1949. In 1952-53 he was the conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (then known as the Victorian Symphony Orchestra) in Australia.eMelbourne: the city past and present He returned to the Americas and conducted the National Symphony in Buenos Aires from 1956-1960. From 1960 to 1964, he was director of the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico.
His output encompasses works for opera, ballet, incidental music for theater and film, as well as orchestral pieces—alone, with soloists and/or choir—chamber ensembles, songs, and scores for solo instruments—piano, bandoneon.
He was awarded the Konex Honorary Award in 1989 in recognition of his career and contribution to classical music in Argentine history. He was appointed a full member of the National Academy of Fine Arts.
Castro's brothers, José María and , were also both composers. Juan José Castro married the daughter of the composer . He died in Buenos Aires in 1968, aged 73.
Works Note: This list is incomplete Violin Sonata, 1914 Cello Sonata, 1916 Piano Sonata No. 1, 1917 A una madre, 1925 Symphony No. 1, 1931 Biblical Symphony, 1932 Mekhano, ballet, 1934 Sinfonia Argentina, 1934 Symphony No. 3, 1936 Symphony No. 4, 1939 Piano Sonata No. 2, 1939 Offenbachiana, ballet, 1940 Piano Concerto, 1941 String Quartet, 1942 La zapatera prodigosa opera after Federico García Lorca, 1943 Martin Fierro, cantata, 1944 El Llanto de las Sierras, 1947 Corales Criollos No. 1 & 2, piano, 1947 Proserpina y el extranjero (Proserpina and the Foreigner), opera after Omar del Carlo, 1951 Bodas de sangre (Marriage of Blood), opera after Lorca, 1952 Corales Criollos No. 3, orchestra, 1953 Symphony No. 5, 1956 Epitafio en ritmos y sonidos, chorus and orchestra, 1961 Suite introspectiva, orchestra, 1962
Notes
References Don Randel, The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Harvard, 1996, p. 144.