Vega, Aurelio de la, 1925-2022

Aurelio de la Vega was born in La Habana, Cuba, November 28, 1925, educated at De La Salle College, Havana, 1940-1944 (B.A. in Humanities); University of Havana, 1944-1946 (M.A. in Diplomacy); Ada Iglesias Music Institute, Havana, 1951-1958 (M.A. in Musicology, 1956; Ph.D. in Composition, 1958) and studied composition privately with Fritz Kramer in Havana (1943-1946) and Ernst Toch in California (1947-1948). After occupying important positions in his native land (Editorial Secretary of Conservatorio, official review of the Havana Municipal Conservatory, 1950-1953; music critic of newspapers Alerta (1952-1957) and Diario de la Marina (1957), Havana; President, Cuban Section of the International Society for Contemporary Music, 1952-1954; President, Cuban National Music Council (Cuban branch of the International Council of Music of UNESCO), 1953-1957; Professor of Music and Chairman, Music Department, University of Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, 1953-1959; Treasurer, Cuban Section of the Inter-American Music Association (Caracas), 1955-1958; Vice-President, Havana Philharmonic Orchestra, 1956-1957), he toured the United States as lecturer (1952-1954) and settled in Los Angeles in 1959, becoming an American citizen in 1966.

After being a Guest Professor of Music at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (summer 1959) he became Distinguished Professor of Music, Director of the Electronic Music Studio and Composer-in-residence at California State University, Northridge (1959-1992) and in 1971 he received the Outstanding Professor Award of the entire California State University system. He has most recently held the appointment of California State University, Northridge Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

In 1978 he received the Friedheim Award of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. for his orchestral work "Adios" which was commissioned and premiered by Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has been nominated four times for a Latin Grammy Award. Three of these nominations were for Best Classical Contemporary Composition: in 2009 for Variación del Recuerdo ("Variation of the Remembrance") for string orchestra, in 2012 for Prelude No. 1 for Piano[7] and in 2017 for Recordatio for soprano, woodwind quintet and string quintet. His fourth nomination was in 2019 for Best Classical Album "Cuba: The Legacy."