Leonardo Balada

Leonardo Balada Ibáñez (born September 22, 1933) is a Spanish-American classical composer, who is noted for his operas and orchestral works. Life Balada was born in Barcelona, Spain. After studying piano at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu in Barcelona, Balada emigrated to the United States in 1956 to study at the New York College of Music on scholarship. He left that institution for the Juilliard School in New York, from which he graduated in 1960. He studied composition with Vincent Persichetti, Alexandre Tansman and Aaron Copland, In 1981, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He taught at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania starting in 1970, and retired in 2020. Works Opera *Hangman, Hangman!, chamber opera (1982) *Zapata, opera (1984) *Christopher Columbus, opera (1986) *Death of Columbus, opera (1996) *The Town of Greed, chamber opera (1997) (sequel to Hangman, Hangman!) *Faust-bal, opera (2007) *Resurrection of Columbus, opera (2013) Orchestral *Symphonies **Symphony No. 1 Sinfonia en Negro, a homage to Martin Luther King (1968) **Symphony No. 2 Cumbres, a short symphony for band (1972) **Symphony No. 3 Steel Symphony (1972) **