Caroni Music

Antonio Lauro was born in Ciudad Bolivar in 1917. In 1931 he began his musical studies with the composer Narciso Llamozas and in 1934 his formal guitar studies with Raúl Borges. He quickly displayed exceptional talent for the guitar. In 1935 he founded the Cantores del Trópico, a vocal-instrumental group with which he toured widely and in 1942 he decided to continue his musical studies with Vicente Emilio Sojo and Juan Bautista Plaza.
He finished his studies in 1947 and was soon to receive numerous awards and prizes for his compositions.
In 1950, Antonio Lauro became a music teacher. He was imprisoned in 1951 during the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jimenez. His Sonata for Guitar and his Suite for Guitar, two important works, date from this period.
In 1958 Lauro created the Madrigalistas de Venezuela and in 1969 the Trio Raúl Borges. He was president of the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra from 1959-60. Lauro received the National Music Prize in 1985 from the President of the Republic of Venezuela.
Antonio Lauro was a composer and musician of great importance and his works for guitar can be compared with those of the Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos and the Paraguayan Agustín Barrios Mangoré.
Painting by Pílar Vásquez

He has composed mainly for the guitar (the famous Valses Venezolanos) but has also written a String Quartet (1946), works for piano, symphonic works : Cantaclaro (1948), Giros Negroides (1955) ; a Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra (1956), songs for voice and guitar, songs for voice and piano and transcriptions and arrangements for guitar. Antonio Lauro died in 1986 at the age of 68. He has become a legend in Venezuela and in the world of the guitar.

Caroni Music - Château d'Arcangues - 64200 Arcangues - France - fax. 00 33 (0) 559 43 10 44 - contact@caronimusic.com