Biography
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Born
30 August 1933
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Born In
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Died
15 November 2017 (aged 84)
Luis Enríquez Bacalov (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 30 March, 1933 - 15 November 2017)) was a prolific Argentine-born composer of film scores, of Bulgarian origin. Early on in his career, he composed scores for Spaghetti Western films, including Django, Storm Rider and The Price of Power. Bacalov was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Original Score -music adaptation or treatment-, in 1967 for Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew, and winning the award for Il Postino in 1996.
You can hear "The Grand Duel (Parte Prima)" in the Volume 1 of Kill Bill, a film by Quentin Tarantino.
In the early 1970s, he collaborated with Italian progressive rock bands New Trolls and Osanna.
In recent years, Bacalov has also composed significant works for chorus and orchestra, including his Missa Tango , a work setting the classic liturgical mass to the rhythms of his native Argentina, which was debuted in Rome by Placido Domingo in 2000. This work was later recorded by Domingo for Deutsche Grammophon. Bacalov recently composed Cantones de Nuestro Tiempos (Psalms for our Times): The Cambridge Psalms, a commissioned work with text from the Psalms of David for baritone and soprano soloists, orchestra and chorus, which had its world premiere at Sanders Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts in spring 2006 by the Cambridge Community Chorus (William E. Thomas, Music Director).
Two of his songs, "The Grand Duel (Parte Prima)" and "Summertime Killer", were used in Quentin Tarantino's film Kill Bill (2003). Tarantino also used three Bacalov songs from the Spaghetti western era in his 2012 movie Django Unchained: "Django" and "La Corsa (2nd Version)" originally from Django (1966), and "Lo Chiamavano King" from His Name Was King.
Bacalov was the first to write a triple-concerto for bandoneón, piano, soprano and symphony orchestra: Tango Music with Symphonic Proportions.
From 2005 to his death, he was the principal director of Orchestra della Magna Grecia in Taranto, southern Italy.
He was considered a brilliant pianist in his time.
He died in Rome on 15 November 2017 at the age of 84.
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