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Organ performers
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The Chilean organist Luis Raul González Catalán was born in Santiago de Chile on August 29, 1946.
His first contact with music was through his mother Olguita,
who taught him during his childhood to play peasant folklore on the guitar.
Later he attended to the Boarding Schools of the Congregation of Vincentian Fathers and Daughters of Charity,
participating in the choirs and instrumental band.
It was there where it started to play to play the harmonium.
He has served as a church organist since 1961 in the Parish Churches of Saint Anne, Saint Vincent de Paul,
San Isidro, Sacred Heart of Providencia, Cathedral of Santiago, Chapel of the Catholic Cemetery, etc.
Not having been accepted into the National Conservatory of Music due to his advanced age
("You must be born again to be a musician," they told him),
He was received as a free student by the organist Fray Pedro Deckers (OFM CAP).
Later he entered to the Modern School of Music to take maturity courses in Theory,
Harmony and Piano, complemented by private piano lessons with teacher Lucila Césped,
and harpsichord with Lionel Party, which finally opened the doors of the Conservatory for him.
There He had the privilege of being a student, among others, of the teachers Carlos Botto, Miguel Letelier, Maria Pfennings,
and Arnaldo Tapia Caballero.
During this period he met to the two most important people in his musical career:
the priest Benjamín Redard, Engineer‑Agronomist, organist, professor of Sacred Music,
and amateur painter;
and the multifaceted American musician and organist Roy Wilson, current professor of graduate students
from the School of Music at Texas Tech University.
Today Dr. Roy Wilson, D.M.A. He was sent from the Peace Corps to Chile in the sixties,
and made it possible for Luis to study for the first time at Texas Tech University in 1970 as an organ student of the
Dr. Judson Maynard.
The latter allowed that Luis attended a master class on the Organ Works of Dietrich Buxtehude
by Marie‑Claire Alain, in Dallas, Texas.
During that semester Luis took also classes with Doctor Mary Jeanne van Appledorn,
his only composition teacher.
With only one semester of studies at Texas Tech University, interrupted by illness,
Luis returned to Chile to be appointed organist of the Cathedral Church of Santiago,
at the same time resuming his position as organist at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Providence.
Participated actively in the Association of Organists and Harpsichord Players of Chile,
of which he was its first President.
In 1972 he received a scholarship from the French government to study Restoration and Repair of Organs
of tubes with signatures
Gonzalez‑Danion in Paris and Atelier Koenig in Alsace, receiving training in pipe tuning and harmonization.
Jean‑Marc Cicchero and Ives Koenig respectively.
He studied Also in Paris, organic performance and improvisation with the teachers Andre Isoir
and Jean Langlais.
Back in his homeland, in Chile in 1975 he began a career as an organist‑concertist,
teacher of Sacred Music and Organ in seminaries and monasteries.
He also begins, together with his brothers Patricio and Sergio and nephews, the repair and recovery of some
forty pipe organs throughout Chile.
This activity reaches its maximum expression with the installation of the Hoffmann organ of the Methodist Church
St. John of Lubbock (whose purchase he personally managed) in the new Valdivia Cathedral
(instrument for which he was assistant organist to his harpsichord professor at Texas Tech, Jerry Brainard, in 1970.
In 1982 he received the Special Prize of the Circle of Art Critics for the Anthology of Organ Music,
a cycle of 42 concerts performed together with his students Alejandro Reyes and Carlos Weil.
He also performs concert cycles of the Complete Organ Works of Juan Sebastian Bach,
Dietrich Buxtehude, Franz Liszt and Cesar Franck.
He has often been invited to play in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay,
France and Germany.
He touched the Mass of Thanksgiving in St. Peter's Basilica, on the occasion of the canonization of
Saint Teresa of the Andes.
He has performed as accompanist on Harpsichord, Piano and Organ with almost all instrumental ensembles
and choirs of the country before 1994.
He has trained organ students in France, Germany, Mexico, the United States and Chile.
Currently two Chilean students of his are studying at Texas Tech University:
Mr. Eduardo Alcayaga Castro, Bachelor of Musical Arts, Organ Mention, and candidate for the Master of Musical Arts,
and Mr. Byron González Báez.
Among his organ students is also Mr. Gaspar González Báez, geologist.
Luis González has composed in Spanish 3 Masses, a Te Deum, and many hymns for the Liturgy of the Hours
(Divine Office).
Recently he has composed a Toccata for Organ, a Trio for Flute, Bassoon and Piano
(Theme with variations),
a Missa per Modos and a Pater Noster in Latin.
He has recently premiered his Fantasía, Chorale and Passacaglia for Organ on the Passion Chorale.
In April 2005 the film premiered. the second trio Homage to Gabriela Mistral and has just finished the suite for
Organ and Marimba "A Tribute to Mexico", commissioned by Dr. Roy Wilson.
She has made multiple recordings, mainly for the Sony label, with seminarians and cloistered nuns.
He was organist for Canal 13 TV for many years.
He also performed as organist of the Church of the Benedictine Monastery of Las Condes
and the Chilean Air Force Chapel.
He still holds the position of organist of the Santa Isabel de La Compañá
Luis González graduated as Bachelor of Musical Arts, B.M.A. (Bachelor of Musical Arts)
in December 1995 and as Master of Musical Arts, M.M.A.
(Master in Musical Arts) in August 2003.
He was a student of the doctoral program called Ph.D. in Fine Arts (Doctorate in Philosophy of Fine Arts),
He always attended the same university, Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, where he graduated. with distinction.
The thesis and dissertation project was "Pipe Organs, Organists and Organ Builders in Chile."
He performed as Director of Music and Organist at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church,
Pampa, Texas.
Returned He went to Chile at the end of his studies, to continue his work
teaching and recovery of the pipe organs that still exist in the country.
He contributed with his article "Organs in Chile" to the Organ Encyclopedia that will be published published soon by
Reutledge (USA).
Dr Luis González Catalán died on February 6, 2020.
R.I.P.
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