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OGDEN — Alfonso Tenreiro, a classical composer based in Ogden, never forgets his Venezuelan roots.
"In all my music, I do make a concerted effort of honoring Venezuela," he said.
He moved to the United States in 1981 as a high school student and has remained. He studied music at Indiana University, moved to Utah in 1998 and now serves as music director at St. Joseph Catholic High School and Elementary School in Ogden. Through it all, he composes music, injecting Venezuelan into his pieces.
"He is Venezuelan and very, very proud of it. ... You can hear it in his music," said Gabriel Gordon, conductor for the New American Philharmonic. The Ogden-based symphony was to perform Tenreiro's latest piece, Symphony No. 2, at a concert on Friday at Northridge High School in Layton.
Given the turmoil in his home country and the departure of many from Venezuela in recent years stemming from political unrest and the deteriorating economy there, he wrote a concerto in 2019 dedicated to the South American nation. It's called "The Prayer" and was performed at a musical festival in Ogden that year. The ongoing crisis still prompts concern.
"It's gotten worse. We have so many people leaving the country, all over the world," Tenreiro said. More than 6.1 million have fled the nation, many coming to the United States, due to instability in Venezuela, according to the International Organization for Migration, affiliated with the United Nations.
In his music, though, he generally aims to focus on the more positive attributes of Venezuela and the people of the country. He used to travel more regularly back and forth between the United States and Venezuela but has curtailed his trips as the climate there has devolved. "Our music is beautiful. Music and a sense of humor keep people moving forward in these tough times," he said.
In composing Symphony No. 2, he was inspired by an uncle, Jesus Tenreiro, and one of the man's musical favorites, Richard Wagner's opera, Tristan und Isolde. Even so, he made sure it contained a bit of Venezuela as well. "You can hear the Venezuelan influence, the Venezuelan rhythmic influence, in some parts," he said.
He's already working on another piece, to be performed by Chamber Orchestra Ogden at its annual pops concert in June. He plans to inject influences and rhythms associated with Joropo music, typical of Venezuela. "(When) I'm done with one piece, I'm already composing another," he said.
Making a living at music can be tough. Tenreiro's pieces have been performed all around Utah, twice by the Utah Symphony, he said. "It's very hard for us composers to get performances," he said.
Tenreriro, though, one of perhaps 10 to 15 active composers around Utah, Gordon estimates, keeps busy. Gordon has performed around seven violin concertos written by the composer and estimates he has written upward of 20 or more pieces in all. "He's all over the place," he said.
Indeed, Tenreiro keeps at it, inspired by family, friends, his students and, of course, Venezuela.
"I'm very happy doing what I'm doing," he said.
