Curriculum Vitae Eric Colon was born in Gent, Belgium on October 29, 1938.
After completing compulsory education in Brussels, he studied Music History at the Brussels Royal Conservatory. At the same time he was taking classical guitar lessons with Nicolas Alfonso, which led him to a concert performing career at an early age. He initiated the first official guitar courses in Belgium in several music academies and at the Conservatory of Tournai.
He was noticed by Andres Segovia who offered him a scholarship to study at the Santiago de Compostela seminar and later at the Sienna Academy of music in Italy where he also studied vihuela with Emilio Pujol.
In 1963, Eric Colon went to the United States and after concert-touring extensively he became a classical guitar teacher at Wesleyan in Middletown, Connecticut and taught orchestration at the University of Connecticut.
In 1970, Eric Colon moved to Venezuela and after concert-touring extensively in that country he became the director of the "Escuela Superior de Musica Jose Angel Lamas" ,the foremost music school of the country. At that time, Eric Colon was granted the Venezuelan nationality.
During the following years, Eric Colon composed extensively and earned several awards for his compositions. He also composed a Symphonic Poem on the discovery of America 'Vision Precolombina" which earned him the highest award from the City Counsel of Caracas. He later composed an historic opera "El Caballero de Ledezma" which was performed by the Metropolitan Opera in the presence of the President of the Republic, Rafael Caldera.
Eric Colon is a permanent founding member of the State Foundation for Children and Youth orchestras of Venezuela. FESNOJIV.
He is also responsible for the international relations of the World Federation of Amateur Orchestras and is the Webmaster for the Home Page of WFAO.
http://www.wfao.org/
Eric Colon,whose wife , Yoshiko Miki, is Japanese, moved to Japan in 1989. He has four children, Gaspar, Eric, Erika and Kenzo, whom were born in Venezuela. He worked as a pilot for Showa Airlines for two years while teaching harmony at the Himeji Girls University. At this time he composed a Symphonic Poem which was commissioned by the Fukuoka Symphony Orchestra. He later became Vice-President of Edmonds Community College in Kobe.
Actually, Eric Colon lives in Kobe is now fully committed to composition. He has been commissioned to compose a Symphonic Poem "Kyoto" which was performed in the Kyoto Concert Hall by the Kyoto Symphony orchestra (conductor Uwe Mund) as well as the "Asahi March" for organ and orchestra which was conducted by the composer himself in the Osaka Symphony Hall. These works were commissioned by the City of Kyoto and the Asahi Shinbun. Last year Eric Colon produced several new works for choir and a new commission for the Kyoto Concert Hall pipe organ "Toccata" has performed on June 15, 2000.
Several new commissions have been performed in 2002: A Sonata for violin and piano in Uhara Hall in Kobe on April 7, 2001 and an a piece for orchestra called "Matsuri" which was performed at the international Amateur Orchestra Festival in Nagoya on August 5, 2001. "Matsuri" was commissioned by the World Federation of Amateur Orchestras. In 2003 Eric Colon was commissioned to orchestrate the large Oratorio by the celebrated Japanese composer Dan Ikuma.
Most of his compositions and recordings are available on line in several formats. Postscript, Finale etc upon request.
List of original works
1970 Sonata for Piano and Cello
1971 Trio for two Clarinets and Piano
1971 Official Anthem of the Music School of Barcelona (Venezuela)
1972 Piano Sonata
1973 String Quartet
1974 Vision Precolombina (Symphonic Poem)
1980 Variations on themes of the Renaissance for Guitar and orchestra
1980 Adaptation to Spanish of "The maid and the thief" Menotti.
1980 Anthem of the Miranda University in Caracas.
1982 "El Caballero de Ledezma" opera in three acts.
1984 Adaptation to Spanish of 'Simon Bolivar", opera in four acts by Darius Milhaud.
1984 Variations for 20 wind instruments commissioned by the Youth Orchestra Foundation of Venezuela.
1988 National Anthem of Civil Aviation . Commissioned by the Ministry of Transportation of Venezuela.
1990 Symphonic Poem on the them of "Kuroda Bushi" commissioned by the Symphony Orchestra of Fukuoka, Japan.
1996 "Yatsuhashi Kengyo" for pipe organ, commissioned by the Kyoto Concert Hall.
1997 Reconstruction of the Valz "Abendblatter" by Offenbach from remaining orchestra parts. Full orchestra.
1998 "Kyoto" symphonic poem in four movements commissioned by the city of Kyoto.
1999 "The Asahi" march for pipe organ and orchestra commissioned by the Asahi Newspaper.
1999 Choral arrangements and harmonizations of early medieval music and Gregorian Chant
2000 Toccata for pipe organ.
2001 Sonata for Violin and Piano
2001 "Matsuri" a Symphonic Poem
Recordings
1958 Concerto for classical guitar and orchestra. Raymond Baervoets
Soloist Eric Colon, National Orchestra of Belgium. Conductor Daniel Sternefeld. Decca.
1978 Piano Sonata. Composer Eric Colon. Caracas LP
1981 "Canto a la Materia" String Quartet and Soprano. Composer Eric Colon, soloist Yoshiko Mike, Caracas LP
1982 "Kyoko o la Apologia de la Danza" for oboe, clarinet and bassoon.
1996 "Yatsuhashi Kengyo" for pipe organ. Kyoto Concert Hall recordings.
2000 "Music for the Soul" a collection of Early Music and Gregorian Chant for female choir and soloists
2000 " Toccata" for Pipe organ
2001 Ave Maria for the Bombed Virgin of Nagasaki. Performed in the Cathedral of Nagasaki in December of that year. Available on CD.
2002 Extensive choir repertoire, arragements and original compositions for the Camerata Kobe.
2003 Orchestration of the Oratorio "Karatsu" by the late composer Dan Ikuma.
2004 " Threne pour un oiseau bleu" for trombone and pipe organ. Performed on March 27 in the Sun City Hall of Amagasaki, Japan.The recordings of these works are available on CD upon request
Awards
1974 First Prize for Large Symphonic compositions. City of Caracas Award.
1979 Award for special contributions to the development of music composition from the Simon Bolivar University Caracas.
1983 Award from the Francisco de Miranda University in Caracas for the composition of its Anthem.
1986 Special Award for exceptional achievements in the fields of education, art and culture. Andres Bello University. Caracas, Venezuela.