Oltra, Manuel

Manuel Oltra was born in Valencia on 8th February 1922, but moved to Barcelona that same year. He started his musical education at the age of 14 with the maestro Josep Font Sabaté studying intensely despite the difficulties inherent to the Civil War. On joining the army in 1943, he was forced to move to Ceuta where he very soon got a job as a teacher at the Hispanic-Moroccan Conservatory in Tetuán. Three years later he returned to Barcelona, where he embarked on his full musical career as a pianist, conductor and composer.
In 1957 he took the official course at the Conservatori Superior Municipal de Música in Barcelona and immediately afterwards became an assistant professor and, later, already a professor of harmony, counterpoint and musical forms, he was appointed as the centre's assistant director.
His output as a composer is extensive and varied, ranging from chamber work for several ensembles, symphonic works, a cappella choral or instrumental accompaniment works, children's cantatas, works for cobla (Catalan orchestra) including the extraordinary Rapsòdia per a Piano i Cobla (1953), the first ever work for this instrumental formation. The harmonisation of traditional songs and ballets also constitutes a considerable corpus in Manuel Oltra's work.
In 1994 he was awarded the National Music Prize in the Composition section and National Popular and Tradicional Culture Prize in the Music section by the Generalitat de Catalunya.