Jacqueline Nova

Jacqueline Nova Sondag (1935–1975) was a Colombian musician, author and composer. She is often cited as having initiated Colombia's electroacoustic musical practices.

Life Jacqueline Nova Sondag was born on 6 January 1935, in Ghent, Belgium. Her father was visiting Belgium from Bucaramanga, Colombia, to study to be an engineer, where he met Jacqueline's mother. Upon his finishing his studies, Nova's family moved back to Bucaramanga where she spent her childhood. In 1955 she moved to Bogotá. Nova's mid-high social class in 20th-century Colombia traditionally prescribed that women learn to play either piano, guitar, or sing in order to be considered respectable ladies. Nova began learning piano when she was seven.

She then traveled to Buenos Aires on a scholarship from the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella for further studies in composition at Centro Latinoamericano de Altos Estudios. There she studied with Luigi Nono, Alberto Ginastera, Gerardo Gandini, Francisco Kröpfl, Francisco Zumaque

Nova died on 13 June 1975 in Bogotá from bone cancer.

Work After studying at CLAEM, Nova became interested in interdisciplinary experimentation with unaccompanied tape. Collaborations with other fields such as visual arts, theatre, and cinema led to a large amount of experimental and graphic elements in her scores. In 1970 she established the New Music Group to perform works by living composers, with special emphasis on Latin America, but because of her health, the ensemble had limited engagements.

Awards and honors Festival de Música de Caracas Award for Chamber Orchestra 1966 for 12 Mobile Third prize in the Composition of the Colombian Institute of Culture 1977 for "Pitecanthropus" for symphony orchestra, voices and electronic sounds Posthumous recognition from the Colombian Institute of Culture

Compositions Nova composed for multiple genres including orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments. She also wrote works for popular theater and film soundtracks including Machu Picchu and Francisco Norden's film The Guerrilla Priest Camilo. She also composed for Son et lumière projects. Selected works include:

Fantasy for piano Little Suite for string quartet Transitions for piano (1964-1965) Asymmetries for flute, cymbals, and tam-tams Opposition-Fusion for tape (1968) Echos I for piano and electronic sounds 12 Mobile for symphony orchestra (1965) Metamorphosis III for symphony orchestra (1965) Music for Macbeth for chamber group Julius Caesar for theater Hiroshima, oratorio, text by Dora Castellanos, for symphony orchestra, countertenor, contralto, 16 female voices, choir, and tape Omaggio a Catullus (Homage to Catullus) for spoken voices, piano, harmonium, percussion, and electronic sounds HK 70 Creation of the Earth

Performances and recent presentations In 2019, the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston presented an exhibition around Nova's 1972 work Creación de la Tierra.