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Pianist/Composer
  Orlando Otey

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Tenochtitlán 1325
Orlando Otey
The Chopin of Mexico


“...Otey has maintained a fluent technique
as an octogenarian, like
Vladimir Horowitz and Arthur Rubinstein”

Andrew Quint, Philadelphia Music Makers Magazine


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Music & History
From the first note of the
Sonata "Tenochtitlán" you'll hear the famous flight of the eagle to the cactus plant.


Experience also Sonata "Adelita", Toccata "Alacrán" and other colorful depictions of Mexican history included in Otey's piano compositions.

Tenochtitlán 1325 Liner Notes

Hear Otey's Chopin Recordings!

"...an astonishing showpiece,
both demanding and receiving a real virtuoso performance" 

Gavin Dixon
Contributing writer for Gramophone, Classical Music and BBC Music Magazine

Full CD Review of
Tenochtitlán 1325
Scroll Down and Click on Selections - Para Diáne is at the end of the list

From Mexico's Excélsior Newspaper on May 27, 1946
Website

Orlando Otey was heralded as the 
"The Chopin of Mexico" at age 15 by critics and the press!  The clipping above reflects a welcome back to Mexico after being in the US six years later.

 

Pianist/Composer Orlando Otey

At the age of two Orlando Otey was placed at the piano by his mother. It was 1927 and she had always hoped to have a son who would become a concert pianist. This young pianist went on to give his first concert at the age of four at the Teatro Iris in his native Mexico City. 

By the age of five he had toured Mexico and by seven he had toured Europe. He also began composing at an early age, and when he was just 14 he composed his first piano concerto, already having completed a list of other compositions.

In 1940 at the age of 15 while on tour in Mexico giving programs of his own compositions that included several mazurkas, nocturnes and etudes, Otey was heralded as The Chopin of Mexico by critics and the press.  Not only was his playing of Romantic music remarkable, his own works were taken by many to be compositions of Chopin, some critics quipping they were works that Chopin forgot to write.

Aside from performing throughout his teen years Otey became a faculty member at the University of Mexico School of Music by age 17. He thereafter came to the U.S. in 1945 and pursued studies at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia upon a full scholarship for his compositions.  Otey studied with Gian-Carlo Menotti and Vladimir Sokoloff.

In 1949 Otey was one of 3 pianists selected to represent the United States at the Chopin Centennial Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland (see New York Times clipping here).

Otey continued to perform and compose, but also contributed to music education for many year after.  In 1968 he was heralded as the "Poet of America" for his performances in Greece.

Bio....

Press & Review Links

New York Times - September 11, 1949

The Otey Music Theory System

5 Year Old Concert Pianist and Child Prodigy... 

Leticia Gómez-Tagle plays Otey Toccata "Alacrán"

 

The keyboard of Orlando Otey’s piano used when he was a boy - an 84 key 1876 Steinway found discarded in a
chicken house of an hacienda near Mexico City.

Music Theory

Otey devoted more than 50 years of his life to music theory and a teaching method, organizing a systemic approach that allowed his students to excel in the understanding of notation, scales, staffs, rhythm and other aspects of music construction.  'The Otey Music Theory System' is separated into 9 Patterns of Music that comprises a holistic approach for students. 

Both performers and composers gain musical insights from Otey's method.

More Detail....


The first page of Sonata "Tenochtitlán" 1948

Related Links

Tenochtitlán 1325 Detailed Liner Notes

Hear Other Piano Recordings Performed By Otey

 

 

The Chopin Of Mexico

When Otey was 15 he was dubbed "El Chopin de Mexico" in the media in Mexico because his compositions where so 'Chopinesque' in style. Otey would also improvise in this style with piano virtuosity.  This is a title that Otey was not very  enthusiastic about, though, it followed him in the press for years after.  Interestingly, a number of parallels exist between Frédéric Chopin and Otey, such as:

- Otey left his native Mexico for the US ~age 20.
- Chopin left his native Poland for France ~age 20.
- both had mothers who were pianists.
- both were acclaimed 'best pianists' in their native countries as youths.
- both supported themselves more as music teachers in their later years, compared to concertizing.
- both wrote compositions reflecting their native homes, expressing folk themes and/or nationalism.
- both composed Romantic style works.  Certainly, Chopin was a pioneer in this area, however, at a time when early 20th century classical music was becoming more atonal Otey remained drawn to the Romantic style, using extended rubato rhythmic phrasing along with chromaticism, and counterpoint to further integrate emerging jazz idioms, and taking salon genres such as the nocturne to even deeper levels of sophistication than Chopin.
- both were told by doctors that they would die due to illnesses a number of times along the course of their lives.  More Detail....

Orlando Otey was described as "El Chopin Mexicano" in this 1958 XELA article.

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