As part of the Collaboration with Ibero-America program of the Conservatori Liceu Foundation, last November 17, the conference “The Guitar in Ecuador in the 19th century” was given by the Ecuadorian guitarist Bolívar Ávila, alumnus of the Conservatory and former scholarship holder of the Carolina Foundation.
The conference was developed on the musical project “Manuscrito 1855 album of pieces, waltzes and polkas”, work of the musician from Cuenca Manuel Antonio Calle (1836-1887), a work edited and recorded in 2020 by him, that is the oldest score for guitar extant in Ecuador.
Boívar Ávila is a graduate of the Conservatorio Superior Rimsky Korsakov in Guayaquil, Ecuador (CRK Scholarship) and completed his postgraduate studies at the Liceu Conservatory as a scholarship holder of the Carolina Foundation in 2003. Since 2019 he has been studying for his Doctorate in Music at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. He has performed in festivals and competitions in Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador. Between 2003 and 2006 he has been part of the Barcelona Guitar Orchestra, conducted by Sergi Vicente, guitar professor at the Liceu Conservatory, with whom he toured the main Spanish capitals and recorded the DVD Concert al Palau, for the XV anniversary of the Orchestra. He carries out an intense research activity, that has led him to premiere works written from 1850 to 2017, all within the framework of Ecuadorian academic music. With this premise, he directs very important dissemination projects at the national level such as SUMAK Música Académica Ecuatoriana del siglo XX, executed by the CCE Azuay, MAC.
This activity is part of the international program of the Liceu Conservatory Foundation, and specifically in its Program of Collaboration with Ibero-America initiated in 2001 and in which academic and artistic activities are developed in nine countries of the region (Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Brazil) that also include the realization of joint academic and cultural activities that promote Catalan and Ibero-American music.