Michael Colina

Michael Dalmau Colina (born November 16, 1948) is a Grammy-winning American musician, composer, producer and engineer.

He has written music for television, film, theatre, dance and live performances on concert stages throughout the United States, Europe and Japan.

Colina is best known as producer and writer on recordings for musicians Bob James, David Sanborn, Michael Brecker, Marcus Miller, Bill Evans and Michael Franks.

He has won three gold albums, has received four Grammy Award nominations, and won three Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

Colina had many of his earliest works performed by the Conductor Robert Maddox with the Garinger High School Orchestra in Charlotte, North Carolina, including his first Piano Concerto that Colina premiered in 1965 at the age of 15.

Colina studied composition at the North Carolina School of the Arts with Vittorio Giannini, Louis Mennini (brother of composer Peter Mennin) and Robert Ward.

He continued studies at the Chigiana in Sienna, Italy with Thomas Pasatieri and Roman Vlad, and was the first recipient of the Vittorio Giannini Memorial Scholarship award.

Upon completion of his formal education, Colina moved to New York City in 1970 to begin a career in music.

Canto for orchestra; Conducted by Robert Vodnoy (Premiered Siena, Italy, June 1970)

Mass for orchestra, chorus and soprano solo; Conducted by Robert Ward (Premiered 1970)

Incidental Music for "A Midsummer Night's Dream," NCSA Production, Directed by Barry Boys (1970)

"The Cave," a ballet score for orchestra (1970)

In 1971, choreographer Twyla Tharp asked Colina to arrange a number of British Marching Band pieces for her company.

Over a 25-year span of time, Colina has worked with a wide range of artists, including James Taylor, David Sanborn, George Benson, Michael Brecker, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Bob James and Herbie Hancock.

"The People," for full orchestra commissioned by Richard Kuch and the Boston Ballet (1972)

"You'll Never See Another Butterfly," a ballet score commissioned by Sophie Maslow (1972)

Incidental Music to "Anthony and Cleopatra," commissioned by New York Shakespeare Theater (1973)

Four Songs to poems of Dylan Thomas (1973)

"Notturno," a piano solo (1974)

Meditation for four cellos (1975)

"A Time of Crickets," a ballet score for Pauline Koner supported by National Endowment for the Arts and the Mary Biddle Duke Foundation (1976)

Elegy for string ensemble (1976)

His first project as an engineer was to work on The Art of the Theremin, the first official album by Clara Rockmore, produced by synthesizer icon Robert Moog, and released in 1977 by Delos International.

"7 Days in December," for woodwind trio (1983)

A 1999 trip to Cuba with his late father reawakened Colina's love for the rhythms of his childhood.

After 20 years of collaborating with noted Jazz artists, Colina began writing compositions that reflect a new, classical direction—one that pulls threads from Jazz, Classical, and his Cuban-American heritage, and evident in his later compositions.

"As a deeper appreciation and integration of my Cuban heritage takes hold in my life, new elements continue to pour into my writing and find their expression in my very personal blend of music...There's already a friendly tension in play between classical and jazz music; with the addition of Latin influences, comes brightness and a joyous abandon that takes the music further in a new direction. That new direction is what you'll hear in my music."

Piano Concertino (2001)

• "Allegro"

• "Andante con Mosso"

In 2006, Colina dramatically shifted his music career to focus on writing classical, jazz and Latin music compositions—distinctive mashups that reflect his deep musical roots in his father's homeland of Cuba.

Colina was born in Charlotte, North Carolina.

He was adopted by Dr. Gilbert Dalmau Colina, a pharmacist, and Marguerite Elizabeth (Taylor) Colina.

Colina's father was from Casilda, Cuba so his youth was spent traveling between the United States and Cuba where he was exposed to the sounds of classical and Latin music as well as to the Soul and Gospel music from South America.

Colina emerged onto the classical music scene in November 2006 when his composition "Nesting Dolls" was selected as a finalist by the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra for their "Homage to Mozart" composition competition and performed at Carnegie Hall.

Colina followed his Carnegie Hall debut with a flurry of new works in 2007, among them: "Shadow of Urbano," written for the Quartet San Francisco and jazz pianist Bob James; "Notturno for Violin and Piano," and "Der Golem," performed by Grammy-nominated violinist Anastasia Khitruk.

In 2008, Colina premiered The "Idoru Piano Trio," introduced to the world by the New Arts Trio at the Chautauqua Institute; "Los Caprichos," an orchestral work commissioned by the National Theater Orchestra of Brazil that premiered in Brasilia and Sao Paulo, Brazil; his guitar concerto, "Goyescana," commissioned by, Robert Phillips and premiered by the Imperial Symphony Orchestra in Lakeland, Florida, and Baion de Bayo, commissioned by the Quintet of the Americas and that premiered in New York City.

In 2010, the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra, with JoAnn Falletta conducting, premiered Colina's "Mambosa," a Cuban Dance for Orchestra.

Los Caprichos was performed again in Seoul, South Korea and in Bogota, Colombia, and had its United States premiere by Fabio Mechetti and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in May 2010.

Also in 2010, Colina recorded a CD of his Violin Concerto, Three Cabinets of Wonder, the Flute Concerto, Isles of Shoals, the Guitar Concerto, "Goyescana," Los Caprichos, and the Unbearable Lightness of Being with the London Symphony Orchestra, Ira Levin and Ransom Wilson conducting.