An “undeniably exciting composer” (Opera News), Jimmy López Bellido’s music displays “a brilliant command of orchestral timbres and textures” (Dallas Morning News) and “a virtuoso mastery of the modern orchestra” (The New Yorker). His works have been performed around the world by leading orchestras and in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Kennedy Center and Konzerthaus Berlin.
During the 2023/24 season, tenor Michael Fabiano will premiere a new song cycle by López entitled Quiet Poems at Arizona’s Tucson Desert Song Festival. The first part of López’s Symphony No. 4: Eclipse will also receive its world premiere by Houston Symphony conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
Highlights of the 2022/23 season included López’s critically acclaimed orchestral tone poem Aino, commissioned and premiered by Orchestre de Paris conducted by Klaus Mäkelä on 8 September 2022. Co-commissioned by Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Aino has since been performed in the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and the USA. On 22 June 2023, the orchestral work Loud received its world premiere in San Francisco by International Pride Orchestra conducted by Christine Brandes. Loud was commissioned by the orchestra for its inaugural performance along with San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra. On 1 December 2022, mezzo soprano J’Nai Bridges and Catalyst Quartet gave the world premiere of López’s song cycle Airs for Mother at 92NY Center for Culture & Arts in New York.
In 2022, López’s piano concerto Ephemerae premiered on 23 February at Royal Festival Hall, performed by Javier Perianes and London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jonathan Berman. LPO commissioned the concerto together with Oslo-Filharmonien, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and Philadelphia Orchestra. Perianes will give further performances of Ephemerae during the 2023/24 season with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and then with Philadelphia Orchestra, both conducted by Rafael Payare.
Further highlights include Rise (2020), commissioned and performed by Berkeley Symphony with director Joseph Young in celebration of its 50th anniversary on 12 June 2022, and Symphony No. 3 Altered Landscape (2020), premiered on 7 and 8 May 2022 in Reno, Nevada, by Reno Philharmonic conducted by Laura Jackson.
Among Jimmy López Bellido’s earlier orchestral output is Perú Negro (2012), which received recent performances by Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra at Oslo Konserthus on 17 February 2022 and by BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms on 4 August 2022, both under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä. The much-loved Fiesta! (2007) has received over 100 hundred performances worldwide, making it one of the most-performed contemporary works in the orchestral repertoire.
López’s discography includes four portrait albums dedicated to his works, notably 2022’s Aurora & Ad Astra, released by Pentatone and featuring Andrés Orozco-Estrada, violinist Leticia Moreno, and Houston Symphony. Aurora was nominated for a 2022 Latin GRAMMY award in the category of Best Classical Contemporary Composition. The same year, his song Where Once We Sang with lyrics by Mark Campbell was also recorded on Pentatone by mezzo soprano Sasha Cooke and pianist Kirill Kuzmin.
A native of Lima, Jimmy López Bellido studied at the city’s National Conservatory of Music before graduating from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with a Master of Music degree. López currently lives in California and completed his PhD in Music at the University of California, Berkeley.
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
