Program and Artist Biography

About the Composer

Member of the Royal Spanish American Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, José Luis Greco first achieved recognition in the 1980s as composer, performer and co-founder of Cloud Chamber, an Amsterdam-based multi-media dance/theater/music company supported by the Dutch Ministry of Culture for 7 consecutive years.

Among the numerous commissions for concert works were those for Orkest De Volharding, The Mondriaan String Quartet and The Netherlands Wind Ensemble, these last two premiered in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. Commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Culture in 1992, his Spanish lyric opera Cuentos de la Alhambra (Tales of the Alhambra) received its world premiere in Haarlem and Amsterdam in February of 1996.

Since 1994 Greco lives in Madrid. Commissions and premieres have followed each other uninterruptedly. These include ballets for the Ballet Nacional de España (world-wide touring repertoire, including NY City Center), the Compañía Nacional de Danza, the Antonio Márquez Company, and the inauguration gala of the 1995 Itálica Festival of Seville.

Among the symphonic works of this period are those premiered by the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Radio y Televisión Española, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, under the direction of Sergiu Comissiona, Adrian Leaper and Enrique García Asensio. His solo, chamber and choral compositions have enjoyed interpretations by some of Spain's most distinguished performers and ensembles, and have been presented in the most prestigious series and auditoria. Commissions include those from the Centro para la Difusión de la Música Contemporánea, the Spanish Ministry of Culture, the Consejería de Cultura de la Comunidad de Madrid, the Orquesta y Coro Nacional de España and from individual musicians.

Greco is the son of the Spanish dancers José Greco and Nila Amparo. After playing in numerous pop bands and jazz ensembles, he went on to obtain a B.F.A. in music (summa cum laude) from the City College of New York (where he studied with John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet among others) and an M.F.A. in composition from Columbia University (teachers there included Mario Davidovsky, Jack Beeson, Chou Wen-chung and George Edwards).

Before moving to the Netherlands he had transcribed and orchestrated Ravi Shankar's 2nd Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra Raga-Mala, premiered by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Zubin Mehta, and conducted the production of his first one-act opera, Aria da Capo.

The British label ASV released a CD dedicated exclusively to his orchestral works interpreted by The Philharmonic Orchestra of Gran Canaria, under the direction Adrian Leaper. The label Autor (Spain) has released another all-Greco CD featuring his works for dance and dance theater, Movimiento Perpetuo. More recently, the American label Albany Records has released a CD dedicated to his chamber music, Dark Love in Wonderland, and the Spanish label Columna Música issued a CD of more of his music for dance and dance theater, Voodoo in New York.