JULIÁN FUEYO
To impact social culture by reimagining musical representations of the 'Other' that celebrate diversity/pluralism and accelerate inclusion, while pushing the frontiers of sound and
asserting the relevance of contemporary
art music in modern society.
JULIÁN FUEYO
About
Recipient of the 68th BMI Composer Award & the
ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award
twice in 2020 & 2021
BIO
Described as music that "...blazes into a cosmic tempest," (CoolCleveland.com) Julián Fueyo's debut at Severance Hall featured his orchestral composition The Eleventh Heaven, which premiered to a standing ovation. Inspired by the Nahua myth of creation, this piece earned him the 68th BMI Composer Award (2020) and the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, marking the beginning of his exploration into ancient Meso-American indigenous aesthetics.
A native of Tampico, Mexico, and now based in New York, Fueyo continues to explore ancient aesthetics and their relevance in today’s rapidly changing culture. His violin concerto Serpiente de Turquesas, inspired by the turquoise blue rivers and their pre-Hispanic symbolism, earned him the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award in 2021. His fascination with pre-Hispanic mythology further manifested in Hurakán, a triptych inspired by Mayan symbolism of hurricanes. Premiered by Donald Crockett at the Aspen Music Festival, this work was recently performed at Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes as part of FIMNME, the Mexico's most important new music festival.
Fueyo’s journey took a new turn after visiting former Tlaxcaltecan territories, where he became captivated by indigenous and mestizo viceroyal (sometimes called 'colonial') art and aesthetics. His interest deepened as he discovered the often-overlooked yet colossal contributions of anonymous Hispanic-Amerindian mestizo and indigenous artists. Artists who's work significantly influenced European baroque and Asian art during the 16th to 18th centuries when Mexico City was a global center of commerce, trade, and culture.
To this end, Fueyo's most recent works—Projection no. 1: The Tree of Life, Two Pieces for Guitar, and Visions of a Tetrahedral Tapestry—premiered in Singapore, Japan, Cleveland, and Texas, respectively, raise questions about the historical mixing of peoples, art, culture, and religion in Hispanic America. They explore the densely tapered multiplication of symbols and expression in Hispanic/indigenous art in the Americas through the centuries. And its significance in our contemporary world, where national and hemispheric fractures seem to grow more easily than connections.
Most recently, Fueyo's compositions on Spotify and other streaming platforms have accumulated over 10 million streams. Fueyo graduated from the Yale School of Music, Interlochen Arts Academy, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Keith Fitch, David Lang, Aaron Jay Kernis, Christopher Theofanidis, and Han Lash.
"He is truly a shining example [...]
I predict a bright future for him."
HONORS & AWARDS
Fueyo is the recipient of the Woods Chandler Memorial Prize awarded by the Yale School of Music (2023), twice ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (2021 & 2020), 68th BMI Composer Awards (2020), a Diploma honoris causa awarded by The American School of Tampico, 1st prize at The Robert Avalon International Competition for Composers, 1st prize at Cleveland Composers Guild Collegiate Composition Contest, 1st Prize at Abundant Silence Composition Contest, winner at North/South Consonance Call for Scores, 1st prize at Ohio Federation of Music Clubs (OFMC) Collegiate Composers Contest, 1st prize at Belvedere Chamber Music Festival Composition Contest, finalist at 2016 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award, winner at MATA Jr. Festival, 2nd prize at Webster University Young Composers Competition, ‘Anabel Combort Memorial Scholar’ at Interlochen Arts Academy.
Fueyo's music has also been nominated three times for an American Academy of Arts and Letters award but has not been eligible to win due to immigration regulations.
Refer to the CV bellow for a full list of Honors & Awards:
CV
EDUCATION
Download Medium Biography.
Download Long Biography.
Julián Fueyo (born 1996) is a composer and conductor from Tampico, Mexico where he developed a passion for the cultural richness surrounding him. He began his musical training playing violin and piano at an early age, and at 13 he started his composition studies with Ramón Alarcón. In 2015 Fueyo graduated high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy and in 2020 he graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music (BM) where he studied composition with Keith Fitch. He just finished his master's degree at the Yale School of Music where he studied with David Lang, Aaron Jay Kernis, Chris Theofanidis, and Han Lash.
OEUVRE
Fueyo's oeuvre is broad and diverse; he creates symphonic, chamber and electro-acoustic music, as well as music for film, installation, and performance art. Besides accumulating 10+ million streams on music streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, etc...), Fueyo's music works and various projects have been presented at Severance Hall, the Linton Chamber Music Series, DiMenna Center for Classical Music (NYC), Lee Foundation Hall (Singapore), Houston Museum of Fine Arts (TX), Woolsey Hall, Cleveland Museum of Natural History (OH), Mixon Hall at CIM (OH), Belvedere Chamber Music Festival (TN), Kimball Recital Hall at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (NE), Christ & St Stephen's Church (NYC), and Rocky Ridge Music Center (CO). He has collaborated with such musicians and collectives including the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, CIM Orchestra, Shannon Lee, Peter Otto, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Yale Philharmonia, Arseniy Gusev, Isabelle Durenberger, North/South Consonance New Music Ensemble, Si-Yan Li and members of the Chiara String Quartet,Luna Nova New Music Ensemble, The Playground Ensemble, Face The Music, Robert Avalon Ensemble (members of the Houston Symphony).
MUSICAL LANGUAGE
Described as music that "...blazes into a cosmic tempest," Fueyo's music fundamentally explores ancient aesthetics and their place in our rapid-changing, contemporary culture. Referencing ancient art and literature (pre-hispanic and Roman), his works investigate idealization, historicism, memory, and transcendence by juxtaposing current and ancient understandings. These subjects often take the form of long, vectorial phrases that puzzle together to create structures akin to processional architecture (mausoleums, temples, pyramids). With an emphasis in line, melody often lingers in the form of harmony etching vertical sound-masses into relief. Although distant from the 'minimalist' tradition, repetition takes a special significance, both as a cyclical device and as a symbol reminiscent of epic literature, ritual, and prayer.
At the individual level, Fueyo's music is most concerned with our need to communicate through emotion and intuition in order to connect with greater truths: that is, to connect with each other.