Alcides Lanza

Alcides Emigdio Lanza (June 2, 1929 – July 17, 2024) was an Argentine-born Canadian composer, conductor, pianist, and music educator. As both a composer and performer he was known as an exponent of contemporary classical music and avant-garde music. His works often utilize a combination of traditional and unusual instruments, and incorporate electronic sounds and extensions. Many of his compositions are published by Boosey & Hawkes, and Lanza himself owned his own publishing company, Shelan Editions. He was an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, a member of the Canadian League of Composers, and an Honorary Member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community. In 2019 Lanza was named a Member of the Order of Canada.

Lanza died on July 17, 2024, at the age of 95.

Background Born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Lanza received his initial musical training in Buenos Aires where he was a pupil of Julián Bautista (music composition), Ruwin Erlich (piano), Alberto Ginastera (composition), and Roberto Kinsky (conducting). He received a scholarship from the Torcuato di Tella Institute in 1963-1964 which enabled him to pursue advanced studies in music composition and electronic music. He received further grants from the Ford Foundation (1966) and the Pan American Union (1967–1969) and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship (1965). All of these enabled him to pursue further training in the United States with such teachers as Olivier Messiaen, Riccardo Malipiero, Aaron Copland, Bruno Maderna, and Yvonne Loriod.

In 1972 Lanza became the director of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ), remaining in that role for only a short time. The SMCQ later commissioned him to write Plectros IV which was premiered in 1975 by the piano duo of Bruce Mather and Pierrette LePage. In 1972-1973 he was composer-in-residence at the German Academic Exchange Service in Berlin and he gave recital tours in Scandinavia and Germany. He went on to found the Composers/Performers Group, an organization that garnered much controversy among critics for its multimedia presentations in cities such as New York and Montreal.

In 1986 he toured Argentina and Brazil with his wife, actress and singer Meg Sheppard, presenting concerts of Canadian music.