JAVS Spring 2025

In 1965, Atehortua’s career took a significant turn with his first visit to the United States. Selected for the Young Artists of the United States Project, sponsored by the Institute of International Education and funded by the Ford Foundation, he was one of 4 young composers chosen from 400 applicants to tour American universities and create compositions for American groups. In New York, he studied with Aaron Copland and presented a paper on twentieth-century Latin American music at the Inter-American Music Conference at Indiana University. This experience led to a long-term involvement with the Organization of American States (OAS), transitioning from scholarship recipient to lecturer and composer. 7 Atehortua established a fruitful relationship with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra and its director, Robert Austin Boudreau (1927-2024), dedicating several works to them. He returned to CLAEM in 1966 through an OAS scholarship to continue studying with Ginastera, attending classes with notable composers such as Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), Earle Brown (1926-2002), and Luigi Nono (1924-1990). His reintegration into Colombia’s professional scene was more difficult than expected. Initially, he served as a conductor for the Colombia National Symphony and received invitations to conduct his compositions abroad in countries like Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia. Eventually, he shifted to academia, taking on roles as a professor and director of music programs at various institutions, including conservatories in Popayán, Medellín, and ultimately the National Conservatory. 8 However, his leadership positions came with significant challenges. Against the backdrop of left-wing political activism among students and community members, Blas Emilio found himself caught in conflicts. His prestigious scholarships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the OAS made him a target for gossip and unfounded accusations, including baseless rumors suggesting ties to the CIA. 9 In 1978, Atehortua received a scholarship to study in Spain, but despite requesting an extension, he was required to leave his possition at the National University. In spite of this setback, he found opportunities to teach workshops and seminars in Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico, and in 1983, he was hired by the Ibagué Conservatory to teach and conduct its symphony orchestra. 10

Atehortua maintained a busy schedule, traveling between Ibagué and Bogotá, and conducting various orchestras, including the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, the Antioquia Symphony Orchestra, the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and the National Youth Orchestra of the Federal District in Caracas. In 1991, he attended the Eighth Inter-American Conference of Musical Education of the OAS, where his former professor, Robert Stevenson (1916-2012), encouraged him to apply for a Simon Guggenheim Foundation scholarship. 11 He won the scholarship, allowing him to focus on composition for a year and create a work for the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to celebrate the fifth centenary of the discovery of America. 12 After spending a year in Washington D.C. from August 1992 to July 1993, Atehortua returned to Colombia. He continued teaching composition at the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in Venezuela while working with the National Conservatory, the Department of Culture of Santander, and the University of Santander until his death, due to heart failure, in January 2020. His legacy as a composer, conductor, and educator remains influential in the world of Latin American classical music. 13 The Music of Blas Emilio Atehortua Blas Emilio Atehortua received more than twenty three awards and recognitions for his compositions and professional work, including first prize in the First International Composition Competition for String Quartet in Santiago de Chile, 1978, for his String Quartet no. 4, op. 87. 14 In one of his publications, Atehortua shared the “10 Commandments” for composers that his teacher, Alberto Ginastera, imparted to all his students. As Atehortua’s says “These guidelines are not rigid rules but rather insightful perspectives on understanding and creating music.” 15 i. Compose works that do not arise from improvisation but from a pre-established order. ii. Ensure that compositions are not formless but adhere to new forms. iii. Do not be content with the whims of fashion, but evolve according to your aesthetic needs. iv. As creators, be as modern as possible, not out of experimental eagerness, but out of spiritual necessity and historical logic. v. Do not reduce your craft to a series of mathematical formulas, but keep your discourse alive through constantly renewed dialectics.

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 41, No. 1, Spring 2025