Guido Santórsola

Guido Antonio Santórsola di Bari Bruno (18 November 1904 in Canosa di Puglia, Italy – 24 September 1994 in Montevideo, Uruguay) was a Brazilian-Uruguayan composer, violinist, violist, viola d'amore player, and conductor of Italian birth.

Santórsola was born in Italy and his family settled in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1909. After receiving initial musical instruction from his father, Enrico, he soon entered the Conservatório Dramático e Musical de São Paulo studying violin with Zaccaria Autuori, and counterpoint, harmony and composition with Agostino Cantù and Lamberto Baldi.

He went to Europe to study violin with Gaetano Fusella (1876–1973) in Naples and Alfred Mistowski (1872–1964) at Trinity College, London.

Returning to Brazil in 1925, he founded the Brazilian Musical Institute, and was violist of the Paulista Quartet and the Rio de Janeiro Teatro Municipal Orchestra. Subsequently, he was professor of violin, viola and harmony at the Conservatório Dramático e Musical de São Paulo before settling in Montevideo in 1931. Italian maestro Lamberto Baldi, director of the Orquesta Sinfónica del SODRE, invited Santórsola to be first violist of his orchestra and also perform with the SODRE Chamber Ensemble. Santórsola later founded and conducted the orchestras of the Sociedad de Cultura Artística Uruguaya and the Instituto Cultural Brasil-Uruguay, was violist in the Kleiber Quartet, and was professor at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores of the Escuela Normal de Música of Montevideo.

Santórsola composed a large body of work that distinctly exhibits melodic and rhythmic energy of Latin America. His musical style was initially influenced by his interest in Baroque counterpoint, Brazilian and Uruguayan folk music, and later twelve-tone serialism. He wrote orchestral and vocal works, concertos, chamber and instrumental music, notably his numerous compositions for classical guitar.

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