Conductor, composer, and researcher, Armando Alfonso has passed away at the age of 95.

Alfonso was born in Paris in 1931. He studied piano and composition at Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid and orchestral conducting at the Paris Conservatory.

He began his career as the conductor of Pilar López’s Ballet Español and went on to conduct leading orchestras in Spain, including the National Orchestra and the RTVE Orchestra, as well as in France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Czechoslovakia, the United States, Mexico, and Japan. He was appointed principal conductor of the Canary Islands Chamber Orchestra (now, Tenerife Symphony Orchestra), a position he held for eighteen years.

Alfonso was a Professor of Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue, and Composition at the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Higher Conservatory of Music from 1970-96. He composed various song cycles accompanied by piano or orchestra, which have been performed internationally.

He authored a biography on composer Carlos Guigou, which was published in 2003. In 2005, he premiered Guigou’s “Requiem Mass” in G minor for double choir, orchestra, and six vocal soloists, a piece which had never been performed publicly since its composition in 1849. Another publication is his biographical and autobiographical book entitled “Recuerdos de dos vidas de músico (Javier Alfonso – Armando Alfonso).” He wrote newspaper articles and numerous programs on musical topics for Radio Nacional de España, including a series entitled “Music and Musicians in the Canary Islands.”