Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez (17 September 1949 – 4 August 2024) was a Spanish conductor and composer. He was known for memorizing all of the players' parts and conducting without looking at the score. He held international leading chief conductor positions, including the RTVE Symphony Orchestra, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Orquesta de Valencia and Bern Theatre. His compositions include Sinfonía del descubrimiento.
Life and career
Education
Gómez Martínez was born in Granada[1] on 17 September 1949[2] into a family of musicians; his father was a professor in the Band of Granada and his mother a pianist.[3] He was determined to become a conductor since childhood.[4]
At age five, he was able to pass an examination at the Victoria Eugenia Music Conservatory of Granada,[5] and at age seven, he climbed to the podium and conducted.[6][7] He did not only steadily lead the professors of the Band, but also corrected errors made by the transcriber in the score.[3]
At age 13, he began teaching piano at the Granada Conservatory.[6][7] In 1964 he moved to Madrid to study at the Madrid Royal Conservatory, and graduated with a First Class Diploma and the Prize of the Conservatory.[3] He continued his studies of orchestra andchoral conducting in Vienna with Hans Swarowsky.[8][6] He graduated at age 21, with the Prize of the Austrian Ministry of Education and Sciences.[9]
Conductor
Gómez Martínez made his debut as a conductor in Sankt Pölten near Vienna in 1973 and then conducted in Lucerne. He conducted Beethoven's Fidelio in Berlin. He first conducted in Spain in 1975 at Granada's International Music and Dance Festival.[3][6]
Gómez Martínez also composed [7] but restricted composing to times without other commitments, such as between concerts and on board airplanes.[3] Among his works stand out Suite Burlesca (1972),[1]Sinfonía del descubrimiento (Symphony of the Discovery) (1992) with the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America,[12][7]Five songs on Poems by Alonso Gamo (1996) for soprano and orchestra,[11]Sinfonía del Agua (Water Symphony) (2007) commissioned by Emasagra,[1]Morning dawning (Passacaglia) (2010), his only opera Atallah,[12][7]Letters from a lover, a work for baritone and symphony orchestra dedicated to his wife, Alessandra,[8] a Piano Concerto and a Violin Concerto.[7]
He recorded his orchestral works Sinfonia del descubrimiento and Canciones with soprano Marussa Xyni and the Hamburger Symphoniker. A reviewer from Gramophone described him in 1999 as a "readily communicative composer of fastidious gifts" and added: "The two works here combine a strong lyrical and dramatic impulse with a tasteful sprinkling of local colour. Passionately committed performances under the composer's direction, finely recorded.".[13]
Personal life
Gómez Martínez was married to Alessandra Ruiz-Zúñiga,[12] to whom he dedicated a five-piece orchestral song cycle, setting their love letters to music.[8]
He died in Malaga on 4 August 2024, at the age of 74,[12] after having been suddenly taken to a hospital.[6][7]
Awards
Gómez Martínez was awarded the Gold Medal of the City of Granada for his extraordinary artistic merits[12] in 1984. He was designated 'Citizen of Granada of the 20th Century' by the Town of Granada.[14] In 1995, King Juan Carlos I awarded him the Encomienda de Número of the Order of Civil Merit.[12][15] The Ministry of Culture of the State of Bavaria named him The Lion of Bavaria for his work leading the Young Orchestra of the Easter Festival in Bayreuth.[16] He was a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Granada.[2] and an honorary member of different musical associations in Spain and Europe.[1]
