Eduardo Soutullo is a Spanish composer and filmmaker. He was the recipient of the Spanish Ministry of Culture's National Prize in Music (composition) in 2023.[1] The jury awarded the prize to Soutullo for "the unanimous international recognition of his music especially his orchestral production, highlighting the premiere in Saint Petersburg of his antiwar cantata "The lament of sunflowers”.[2]
He began his musical education at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Vigo. Later, he moved to Madrid and to Paris completing his studies in Harmony and Composition with Isabelle Duha[3] (Conservatoire d'Issy les Molineaux-Paris XIII)
He has studied musical composition with David del Puerto, Jesús Rueda, José Luis de Delás Franco (Köln Conservatory), Richard Steinitz[4] (Huddersfield University) and with Cristobal Halffter and Tomás Marco (Villafranca del Bierzo, Spain).
He has a master's degree from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid,[5] and has a Doctorat (PhD) from the Universidad de Vigo (thesis about Spanish contemporary music)[6]
He has been a professor at the Porto's Superior School of Music and Performing Arts (ESMAE)[7] [citation needed]
He has been composer in residence at Spanish Academy in Rome in the course 2019-2020[8]
In February 2022, after the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, he began the composition of Threnus Helianthuses (The lament of sunflowers, a direct reference to Ukraine's national flower), a vocal-symphonic work whose lyrics are anti-war verses of the prominent Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka[9] (1871-1913) translated into English. He submits the score to the "XVI Open composers competition named after Andrey Petrov"[10] held in Saint Petersburg. Against all odds, the work is selected as a finalist and gets its premiere on September 15, 2022 at the Grand Hall of the St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic[11] by the St.Petersburg Symphony Orchestra winning the third prize of the competition[12]
On March 7, 2024, he premieres his work Elegía[13] (Elegy) in Madrid at the XXII concert “In memoriam” in tribute to the Victims of Terrorism[14] presided over by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain. This concert is held annually on the eve of March 11, the day on which the 193 victims of the attacks perpetrated in Madrid on that date in 2004 are commemorated, being broadcast live to the entire world from the National Music Auditorium by the RTVE Symphony Orchestra[15] (Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española)
He is also the author of the novel "Olozábal, el último zarzuelista, en el Madrid de la movida" published on Amazon (ASIN B08RRNGTDJ) and Smashwords (ISBN 9781005316792)[16][17]
Musicologist Robert Fallon has written, "Eduardo Soutullo's triptych All the Echoes Listen, But in Vain and They Hear no Answering Strain, dedicates each movement to Messiaen, Takemitsu and Grisey. Melodies in All the Echoes Listen have the "Chant d'extase" contour and They Hear no Answering Strain sounds a five-note descending octatonic scale in strings much like Le tombeau resplendissant."[18]
Eduardo Soutullo is also the director and screenwriter of several documentaries and short films that have won awards at the following festivals:
Songs to the dead children in Auschwitz,[63] short documentary film:[64]
Fons Vitae: A New Era For The Planet,[71] Sci-Fi short film:[72]
Fílm me (on Cuba) (short documentary film):
