Miguel del Aguila
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay; American composer Miguel del Aguila moved to the US in 1978. After graduating from The San Francisco Conservatory of Music he traveled to Vienna to further studies at the Hochschule fur Musik and Konservatorium der Stadt Wien. After ten years of intense work in Europe he returned to the US in 1992. Numerous premieres of his works followed, and in 1994 Los Angeles Times critics chose him "resident music man of the year" and "One of the West Coast's most promising and enterprising young composers".

Soon after he was honored with a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award and several California Arts Council Fellowships and Residencies. He was recently Composer in Residence with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra through a Meet The Composer's Extended Residences Grant and is currently working throught a Magnum Opus Grant with Nashville, Virginia, Buffalo and Winnipeg symphony orchestras. He also received several Meet The Composer Awards, Lancaster Symphony Composer of the Year Award 2008, City of Ventura Fellowships, Olympiad Of The Arts Prize, AEMUS, and Jeunesses Musicales awards. Most recently his works received the support of The Peter S. Reed Foundation, Music Alive program, The Copland Fundation, and the Argosy Foundation for Contemporary Music.

An active pianist, Miguel del Aguila soloed with several orchestras. His 1980's debut concerts at Carnegie Recital Hall and Merkin Hall in NY, and at Konzerthaus and Bösendorfer Hall in Vienna, marked the beginning of his busy international career. An occasional conductor of his works, he guest-conducted several ensembles and was music director of Ojai Camerata, CA from 1995-'99. From 2000 to '04 he was resident composer at the Chautauqua Institution, NY.

Aguila's catalog of close to 100 works includes opera, orchestral, choral, solo, chamber and theater/film works. To this date, over 50 orchestras, 200 chamber ensembles and an even larger number of soloists include his music in their repertoire. Their performances from some of the world's major concert halls, and from over 50 international festivals, are often broadcast worldwide via internet, radio and TV. Aguila’s music is widely available on 20 CD's and published by Peermusic since 1986, (Theodore Presser distributor).


About the Composer's Award
Established in 1959, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra Composer’s Award is the oldest award of its kind in the nation. Its purpose is to recognize and honor contemporary composers who are making a particularly significant contribution in the field of symphonic music, not only through their own creative efforts but also as effective personal advocates of new approaches to the broadening of critical and appreciative standards. While the judgment of any creative work ultimately rests upon the artist, it is nevertheless true that, in music as in other arts, appreciation often stems from personal association. The appearance of an outstanding composer before the more than 2,500 patrons of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra generates not only greater interest in his work but also a more appreciative hearing of contemporary music.

The Composer's Award is given as the key feature of a program designed to encourage and actively develop a special interest in modern music and contemporary composers on the part of the audiences of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, to the end that this Pennsylvania community may serve as an example in the advancement of greater understanding and appreciation of contemporary music everywhere.

The award is made in connection with a regular concert by the Lancaster Symphony at which a representative work of the composer being honored is performed. In the acceptance of the award, the composer gives a short talk, summarizing his/her individual approach to musical composition.

Previous Recipients
1959 - Howard Hanson
1960 - Peter Mennin
1963 - Henry Cowell
1964 - Vincent Persichetti
1965 - William Schuman
1966 - Walter Piston
1967 - Norman Dello Joio
1968 - Alan Hovhaness
1969 - Roger Sessions
1970 - Paul Creston
1971 - Virgil Thomson
1972 - Gunther Schuller
1973 - Gian Carlo Menotti
1974 - Leroy Anderson
1975 - Richard Yardumian
1976 - David Amran
1977 - David Diamond
1978 - Louis A. Mennini
1979 - Robert Ward
1980 - Morton Gould
1981 - Jacob Druckman
1982 - Ned Rorem
1983 - David Del Tredici
1984 - Elie Siegmeister
1985 - Benjamin Lees
1986 - George Rochberg
1987 - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich
1988 - John Corigliano
1989 - Ulysses Kay
1990 - John Harbison
1991 - Stephen Albert
1992 - Joseph Schwantner
1993 - Russell Peck
1994 - Stephen Paulus
1995 - David Ott
1996 - William Bolcom
1998 - George T. Walker
1999 - James “Kimo” Williams
2000 - Christopher Rouse
2001 - Aaron Jay Kernis
2002 - Lukas Foss
2003 - Joan Tower
2004 - Bernard Rands
2005 - Michael Daugherty
2006 - Richard Danielpour
2007 - Peter Schickele
2008 - Jennifer Higdon