Luis Advis

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Luis Advis Vitaglich (February 10, 1935 - September 9, 2004) was a Chilean university professor of philosophy, musical composer and author. He was born in the City of Iquique in the remote north of Chile. He graduated in philosophy from the Universidad de Chile and held numerous academic posts in various schools of higher learning in his country.

Despite not entering the conservatorium or being formally trained in the field of music, he studied piano with Alberto Spikin and composition with the Chilean academic and musician Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt (to whom the amalgamation of the European classical music traditions with Latin American musical expressions is owed to). Although Advis recognized his great appreciation for traditional classical music he still saw the need to revitalize and develop popular/folk music through works such as cantatas, symphonies and other musical forms.

Prominent in his repertoire for vocalists are the cantata "Santa María de Iquique” (a milestone of the New Chilean Song movement), the ”Canto para una Semilla” (Song for a Seed) based on poems by Violeta Parra (recorded by Inti-illimani, Isabel Parra and Carmen Bunster) and the symphony “Los Tres Tiempos de América”, which was recorded by Quilapayún with the Spanish singer Paloma San Basilio and a symphony orchestra of spanish musicians in 1988.

In 1979 he published the book “Displacer y Transendencia en el Arte” “(Displeasure and transcendence in Art).”

In his later life his most recent projects were the arrangements for the piece “Del Salón al Cabaret la Belle Epoque Chilena”/From the Saloon to the Cabaret the Beautiful Chilean Epoc.” This is a theatrical, musical and choreographic recreation of styles of that era, it involved 70 musicians and actors from the Escuela de Teatro de la Pontificia Universidad Católica(Theatrical School of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile) and recorded in 2002. In addition, he composed “Cinco danzas breves” / Five brief dances (cha-cha-chá, Cuban son, waltz, habanera and rag-time) for the Saxophonic Quartet Villafruela, which were released in the “Saxofonos de Latinoamérica"/Saxophones of Latin America CD. In his final days he completed an oratorio titled ”La Pampa del Tamarugal”, which has not yet premiered.

Advis recognized the importance of popular/folk music; when he began to listen to Violeta Parra. Advis –like his colleague, Sergio Ortega- provided the sound of Chile; a sound conveyed by the fundamental works of the Nueva canción chilena: Santa María de Iquique and Canto para una Semilla. Other compositions include the orchestral Suite Latinoamericana, a Wind Quintet, music for theatre, cinema and television, in a musical catalogue that comprises more than 150 works that covers all spheres and goes from the classical to the popular/folk. Advis was undoubtedly a fundamental figure in Latin American art for his music outlined a new architectural polyphony for Latin America.