Biography
Carlos Chavez (Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez, 1899 - 1978) was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, the founder and conductor of the Mexican Symphony Orchestra.
He was born in Mexico City, the seventh child of a wealthy family, on June 13, 1899. His paternal grandfather was a former governor of Aguascalientes who was executed by the French Army in April 1864. His father, who died when Carlos was just three years old, invented a plow that was produced and used in the United States. Carlos took his first piano lessons from his brother Manuel and later was taught composition, harmony and piano from the best teachers of the time.
In 1916, Chavez and his friends founded a cultural magazine, which led him to join the staff of the El Universal newspaper in Mexico City in 1924. Over the next 36 years, he wrote more than 500 articles for that newspaper. In December 1928, Chavez was appointed director of the Mexican National Conservatory of Music — a position he held for a total of five years. In 1938, he conducted a series of concerts with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. In 1940 he gave concerts at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and by 1945, Chavez was regarded as the leading Mexican composer and conductor. From January 1947 to 1952, he served as director general of the National Institute of Fine Arts. In his first year, he formed the National Symphony Orchestra; for many years he maintained a busy schedule of international tours.
He died on August 2, 1978 at his home on the outskirts of Mexico City where he had spent the last years with his daughter, having several health problems.