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Distinguished Music Professor Emeritus/Composer Aurelio de la Vega Nominated for his First Latin Grammy

Cal State Northridge music professor emeritus Aurelio de la Vega had only one piece on the album “Remembrances-Recuerdos,” a compilation of music by composers from Cuba and the United States. But de la Vega’s work stands out as its melodies tap into a wealth of emotions, triggering memories of a life gone by and that perhaps never was.

Cal State Northridge music professor emeritus Aurelio de la Vega, who has been nominated for a Latin Grammy.

The piece, “Variación del Recuerdo (Variations of a Memory),” performed by the North/South Chamber Orchestra, caught the attention of his peers in the music industry, and has been nominated for a Latin Grammy for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

De la Vega, who retired from teaching at CSUN in 1993 after 34 years, will find out if he wins next month during the 9th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards telecast on Nov. 13.

Regardless of the outcome, de la Vega called the nomination “very nice,” particularly since it comes at the tail end of a career that spans more than 50 years and includes recognition and accolades from around the world, but never by The Latin Recording Academy.

“Variación del Recuerdo” was originally commissioned by the Culver City Chamber Orchestra in 1999.

“It’s kind of a nostalgic piece. When you get old, you get nostalgic,” he said with a smile. “The piece has ambiance and flavors from Cuba, and it’s a little sad. It recalls memories and times that have gone by, or are not real any more.”

De la Vega, an internationally recognized composer, was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1925. He served as a cultural attaché at the Cuban Consulate in Los Angeles. He also toured the United States as a lecturer from 1952 to 1954 before settling in Los Angeles. De la Vega joined the faculty of what was then San Fernando Valley State College, now California State University, Northridge, in 1959.

Throughout his teaching years and in the years since his retirement, de le Vega has been an active composer and music lecturer. His list of compositions includes symphonic pieces, chamber music works, solo instrumental pieces, vocal works, piano, guitar and ballet music and electronic compositions.. Major orchestras and prominent soloists throughout the world have performed his works.

The composer has been the recipient of many prizes and distinctions, including having twice received the Friedheim Award of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

In 2000, de la Vega was honored by the Library of Congress when his graphic score, “The Magic Labyrinth,” was included in the library’s 733-page volume, “Music History from Primary Sources.” Among the music greats included with him were Bartók, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Gershwin, Handel, Liszt, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Puccini, Stravinsky and Verdi.

De la Vega is not resting on his music laurels. He is currently working on a new piece to be performed in New York in 2010 by the North/South Chamber Orchestra.

Later this year, the internationally recognized National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra will release a recording of four pieces by de la Vega, “Elegy,” “Tropimapal,” “Variación del Recuerdo,” and “Adiós,” a work he wrote originally for Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. What makes the album particularly meaningful for de la Vega is that a former student, Carl Byron, now a well-respected composer in his own right, has written the notes on the recording, and that Enrico Mario Santí, an internationally known writer, wrote the essay for the album.

“It is a very philosophical essay that touches on the meaning of my work over the span of time. He truly understands my music, and what he wrote is very special to me,” de la Vega said. The performances on the album itself, he said, are “magnificent and beautiful.”

There are other projects in the works as well.

“I may be retired from academic life,” de la Vega said, “but I am keeping most busy.”