From: Lima, Peru.
Award-winning composer Jimmy López Bellido (born in 1978) is considered "one of the most interesting young composers anywhere today" (Chicago Sun-Times), and an “expert in orchestration” (New York Times) with a distinct voice that is “adventurous and winning” (Denver Post). His works have been performed by leading orchestras around the world including the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the National Symphony Orchestras of Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Spain, among others, and his music has been heard in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Kennedy Center, Vienna’s Musikverein, Konzerthaus Berlin, and during the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. His music has been featured in numerous festivals, including Tanglewood, Aspen, Grant Park, Darmstadt, Donaueschingen and the Nordic Music Days.
As part of the Renée Fleming initiative, the Lyric Opera of Chicago commissioned him a full-length opera based on the bestselling novel Bel Canto which premiered on December 7, 2015 to wide critical acclaim. Bel Canto became the bestselling opera of Lyric’s 2015/16 season, and it went on to earn a nomination to the 2016 International Opera Awards. In 2017 it was broadcast all throughout the U.S. on PBS' Great Performances. His work Fiesta! has been performed over 90 times worldwide, ranging from Australia to Siberia, thus making it one of the most performed contemporary orchestral works. Dreams, an oratorio which he wrote in collaboration with Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz, received its world premiere by soprano Ana María Martínez, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, and the Philharmonia Orchestra of London in Berkeley, California in March of 2019. Mr. López has just completed a three-year tenure as the Houston Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence.
He has been awarded numerous prizes, among them: a 2017 Hewlett50 Arts Commissions from the Hewlett Foundation, TUMI USA Award 2016, Musician of the Year 2015 by Opera Peru and "El Comercio"; Honorable Mention at the 2015 Barlow Prize Competition; Special Mention at the 2015 Casa de las Américas Composition Prize; 2014 Antara Prize in recognition for his outstanding career; 2013 Prince Prize from the Prince Charitable Trusts; First Prize at the 2012 and 2011 Nicola de Lorenzo Music Composition Contest; 2009 Georges Ladd Prix de Paris, Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at the 2008 Darmstadt International Summer Course for New Music; 2008 Morton Gould Young Composer Award from ASCAP; Honorable Mention at the 2005 Irino Composition Prize in Japan; First Prize at the ALEA III 2003 International Composition Competition; and Orchestra Prize at the 2002 CCA International Composition Competition in Taiwan.
He is a member of Suomen Säveltäjät (Society of Finnish Composers), ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), Circomper (Circle of Composers of Peru) and the San Francisco Chapter of the Recording Academy (Grammy). Symphony Canvis, a new album exclusively dedicated to his orchestral works, was released in August of 2019. All works were recorded by Conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
He studied with Enrique Iturriaga from 1998-2000 at the National Conservatory of Music in Lima, and with Veli-Matti Puumala and Eero Hämeenniemi from 2000-2007 at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, from where he obtained his Master of Music Degree. He completed his PhD in Music at the University of California-Berkeley in May of 2012 with Edmund Campion. He is published by Filarmonika Music Publishing.
Learn more at JimmyLopez.com.
