Leonardo Balada

Leonardo Balada Ibáñez (born September 22, 1933) is a Catalan American classical composer, who is noted for his operas and orchestral works.

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, and conducting with Igor Markevitch.

Balada's works from the early 1960s display some of the characteristics of neoclassicism, but he was ultimately dissatisfied with this technique, and in 1966 began to move towards a more avant-garde style, producing works such as Guernica.

He taught at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania starting in 1970, and retired in 2020.

Balada's notable students include John Zorn (who studied with him at the United Nations International School), Hankus Netsky and Victor Padilla.

Balada felt a need for a change again in 1975, his work from then onward being characterized by the combination of folk dance rhythms with the avant-garde techniques of the previous period.

Harmonically, Balada's mature period work displays a combination of the tonality of folk music with atonality.

Compositions representative of this period include Homage to Sarasate and Homage to Casals.

No matter the stylistic phase, Balada's music features extensive rhythmic variance and unique orchestration, often in service of a haunting atmosphere.

Some of Balada's works have been recorded by Naxos Records.

In 1981, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.