The Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music () is a public conservatory in San Juan, Puerto Rico.Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico, SOBRE EL CONSERVATORIO DE MÚSICA DE PUERTO RICO: Información General del Conservatorio. Retrieved: February 14, 2008. It has hosted a number of international musicians as students as well as faculty, and has a longstanding relationship with the classical music movement in Puerto Rico, including the annual Casals Festival and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (PRSO). Following the success of the Casals Festival held in San Juan in 1957, state legislator Ernesto Ramos Antonini proposed several laws which would create the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra that same year, and the Conservatory of Music in June 1959.
The conservatory was originally envisioned as a school for preparing musicians for the PRSO and for preparing music teachers for the state public education system. Throughout the years, however, the conservatory has become a musical landmark in the Caribbean, providing advanced academic studies in various music areas to local students as well as international visitors. Since its inception, the conservatory has been under the administration of state government agencies, including the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (Compañía de Fomento Económico), the Administration for the Encouragement of Arts and Culture (Administración para el Fomento de las Artes y Cultura), and the Musical Arts Corporation (Corporación de las Artes Musicales, or CAM). Collectively, all three were called "The Organization" by the administration.
It remained a part of the CAM until 1995 when a state law granted it fiscal and administrative autonomy. Since then, the conservatory has been autonomously run by a board of trustees appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. Among the artists that took classes at the Conservatorio included Luis "Perico" Ortiz, Elías Lopés, Melvin Sotomayor, Miguel Peña, Andrés Ortiz, Pedro Rodríguez Saniel, Carlos Martínez, Tito Lara, Eddie Feijó, Obed Tirado, Julio Martínez, Miguel Ángel López Duchesne.
History Early proposals Efforts to create a music conservatorium at Puerto Rico date as far back as the 1890s. On December 12, 1955, Pablo Casals attended a diner at La Fortaleza, in which a conversation between him, Muñoz Marín and Teodoro Moscoso led to the mention of the Prades Festival and the governor asking the latter to organize a similar initiative. Moscoso contacted the head of Fomento, who agreed to work on the initiative and Alexander Schneider was brought in at the request of Casals. Through Internal Resolution 740 Fomento created Festival Casals Inc. and the first Festival was held in 1957. The board was led by Passalacqua and included Abe Fortas, Miguel Garriga, Antonio Fernández Castrillón, José Trías Monge, Juan Enrique Géigel, Rafael Benítez and Esteban Bird; Casals himself was musical director and Schneider was his auxiliary director. The University of Puerto Rico (UPR) was not considered to administrate these events, with the governor and Jaime Benítez already at odds. In February 1956, Schneider, Casals and his student Marta Montañez held a reunion with Muñoz, First Lady Inés Mendoza and Moscoso, where the organization of the first orquesta was requested. Another was held the following month, with Casals, Montañez, Muñoz, Mendoza, Moscoso, Rafael Benítez Carle, Tomás Blanco, Jack Delano and Alfredo Matilla where broader topics were discussed.
On May 8, 1957, the first Casals Festival was held at the UPR. Schneider was in charge of assembling the orchestra, a process in which he admittedly "narrowed the selections down to the small complement of chamber musicians [...] who to me represent the height of ability, wide experience, and the tenuous battle of intellectual curiosity and artistic representation". On May 29, 1957, Inés Mendoza proposed to Abe Fortas restoring the Spanish forts at Old San Juan so that they could be repurposed for academic musical enterprises. On September 19, 1958, a meeting on the festival was hosted at La Fortaleza, with Trias Monge and Fortas among the participants. Tough no advances were immediately evident from these efforts, the public exposition of music progressed and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico debuted on November 5, 1958.
On July 24, 1961, Schneider wrote to Muñoz arguing that there should be an emphasis in training "children and young people" (starting at the age of 10), as part of a "complete plan for the musical education" emphasizing strings that he expected to produce results in "ten or fifteen years" leading to a "Puerto Rico Symphony Orquesta" (an Orquesta where all members were Puerto Rican). On February 28, 1962, Schneider wrote to Castro about the symphonic orchestra, arguing that there was a need for string players.
Fundación Casals Inc. was first registered as a for profit corporation on April 20, 1956, with Fomento acquiring its shares (priced at $100). In 1962, Ricardo Alegría joined the board. Following the creation of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (ICP), he created a commission (members included president Augusto Rodríguez, Héctor Campos Parsi, Roger Martínez, Carmelina Figueroa, Monsita Ferrer and Jesús María Sanromá) that lead to drafting the law that created the Conservatorio. However, the arrival of Pablo Casals to Puerto Rico modified these plans and placed the establishment in a hiatus. Fomento Industrial would create Corporación Festival Casals, Inc. as a subsidiary, with offices in New York. The president of the CDF also presided the board of the entity, composed by residents of San Juan, and governor Muñiz would authorize the program.
Among the members of this board, Abe Fortas had notable control over the administration of the corporation and the estate of the Casals family. Schneider was named as assistant director at the behest of Casals. However, he would not hold auditions to fill the spaces in the Orquesta Sinfónica, instead relying on his personal preferences. Frictions emerged after foreign musicians were featured in the prominent roles of the inaugural 1957 Casals Festival, excluding the locals. Muñoz Marín himself referred to these impromptu assembly of foreigners as the "flying orquesta". In 1958, the corporation was granted control of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico.
Foundation and first classes Fundación Casals Inc. also received administration of the conservatorium, which was formally established by Law 35 of July 12, 1959. Its financing was secured by Ley Núm. 5959, which authorized Festival Casals Inc. to request up to $100,000 for 1960-61 and to give way to studies that would allow the creation and functioning of the organization. It also allowed the entity to receive donations from the public. Law No. 35 also noted that the Conservatorios Dean of studies would also participate in the Sinfónica and collaborate with Festival Casals. Being based in New York, the corporation would generally recruit foreign musicians for both entities, with Schneider authorizing who would serve as professor in the Conservatorio. The creation of the Casals Festival would result in the recruitment of Antonio Fernández Castrillón to its board by the governor, a move that was detrimental to other initiatives linked to him, such as the organization of opera festivals in the UPR and other initiatives related to, or dependent on, Pro Arte Musical.
In June 1959, plans to create the "Commonwealth Music Center" were unveiled, with Roberto Sanchez Vilella assigning $30,000 for the umbrella that would house the Conservatorio, Orquesta Sinfónica and the Escuela Libre de Música. Following that year's Festival Casals, Carlos Passalaqua held a reunion with Alexander Schneider on the topic of a Latin American director for the event and the conservatorium, leading to the recommendation of Juan José Castro, who received a two-year contract. After arriving to Puerto Rico, he also took over the Orquesta Sinfónica. His work, however, was under overseer Casals. The Dean was contractually obligated to lead a class of string ensemble or an institutional orchestra.
The Conservatorio began operations on January 25, 1960, with Castro as Dean of Studies a lack of knowledge of the local musical history. The inauguration ceremony was attended by several politicians, including the governor, and featured speeches by Casals and Castro. Initially the curriculum was limited, while the institution operated under Fomento at a building found at Calle Rafael Lamar. José Gueits was dean of administration. Rubén Cardona was the administrative official. Several foreign musicians that joined the Orquesta Sinfónica would also serve as professors and these instrumentalists were not required to audition . Gueits' involvement allowed a collaboration between the entity and the UPR, which granted the incipient entity a space to practice, provide housing and hold concerts, which later included a collaboration to build an acoustic shell. He brokered a dispense with Sebastián González for members of the UPR's Fine Arts Department to join the Conservatorio.
Jesús María Sanromá led the Piano Department, which had María Luisa Muñoz, Elías López Sobá, Nydia Font and Narciso Figueroa as professors. The Theory and Composition Department was in charge of Julián Bautista (recommended by Castro) and featured María Rodrigo, Roger Martínez and Héctor Campos Parsi. William McColl took over as clarinet professor, taking over after a brief tenure by Martínez. The Music History Department was led by Alfredo Matilla. The Singing Department was headed by Ángeles Otein and later Augusto Rodríguez (who had worked with the UPR chorus and taken it abroad and brought with him over 33 pieces, several of them original) and Nilda González joined. The Cords Department was led by José Figueroa and featured Marta Casals as professor. The role of the chorus as backdrop to soloist presentations and a prevalence of activities that were of extracurricular nature, such as opera companies, led to student resistance to Rainis and Matilla.
Ángeles Nieto was recruited after Castro was impressed by Pilar Lorenza "Lorengar" García's singing, inquiring who was her teacher. Howard Hillyer was also contracted as French horn professor in 1962, but never joined and was replaced by Christopher Leuba, who took two contracts between 2962 and 1963. Several members of the Orquesta Panamericana joined the Conservatorio, namely Jesús Peña, Gildo Rodríguez, Héctor Urdaneta, Jorge Camacho, Germán Peña, Carlos Martínez, Leslie López, José María Henríquez, Lito Peña, Eladio "Yayo el Indio" Peguero, Miguel Peña. Of them, Jesús Peña, Leslie López and Germán Peña graduated. Other students included Olga Iglesias, Pablo Elvira, Camelia Ortiz del Rivero, Esteban Moreno and Luisa Rodríguez, of which only the former graduated.
The first class imparted at the Conservatorio was Sol-Fa and Theory, by Campos Parsi. During this time, the official enrollment was 124 students. The students frequently dropped out before graduating, others failed. By 1960, the total neared 200. That year, Jack Holland joined as professors and students joined to play trumpet, French horn and trombone under him (including Eusebio Valencia, Orlando Cora, Miguel Miranda and Nilda Pérez). During the summer, Carnelina Figueroa joined the Department of Theory and Composition. Roger Martínez worked as a professor of Theory and Sol-Fa until he was given the direction of the UPR's music department. Oboist Harry Schulman was replaced by James Cadwell.