The Chilean-American composer Miguel Chuaqui was born in 1964, in Berkeley, California, and he grew up in Chile. His musical education began in Santiago, at the Escuela Moderna de M?sica, and continued later at the Universidad Cat?lica de Chile. In 1984 he moved back to California, and, after finishing college, he went on to pursue graduate studies in composition (1987-1994) under the guidance of Mr. Andrew Imbrie at the University of California at Berkeley. He has also studied with John Thow and Edwin Dugger, and he was an associate composer at CNMAT (Center for New Music and Audio Technologies) (1994-96).
Mr. Chuaqui?s music includes orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electro-acoustic works. He has received commissions from the Fromm Foundation, and the Koussevitzky Foundation, and from ensembles such as Earplay (San Francisco), Parnassus (New York), Ensamble Bartok (Santiago), and several other music organizations. His music is recorded on CRI, Albany Records and Centaur Records. It has been performed in the U.S. and abroad by ensembles such as Parnassus, Speculum Musicae, Earplay, Abramyan String Quartet, Left Coast Ensemble, Empyrean Ensemble, Octagon, New York's Riverside Symphony, Canyonlands Ensemble, and the Chilean ensembles Bartok and ANCC (Asociaci?n Nacional de Compositores de Chile). Honors include an Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an Aaron Copland Recording Grant, the Eisner Prize, a Nicola de Lorenzo Award, and induction into the National Association of Composers of Chile. He is currently on the faculty of the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, where he teaches composition and electro-acoustic composition.