Enrique Soro

Enrique Soro (1884-1954) is considered to be one of the first symphonists in Chile. After early music studies in his native Concepción, he received a scholarship to study at the Royal Conservatory in Milan. In 1904, after winning a first prize in composition, he undertook a concert tour of Italy and France. He returned to Chile in 1905, where in 1906 he was appointed to the composition faculty of the National Conservatory of Music. From 1919 to 1928 he served as the Conservatory’s director. In 1942 he began working as a technical assessor of musical institute in Chile and in 1950 he assumed the position of inspector of musical studies in that country’s elementary schools.
Soro maintained a prominent career as a soloist and composer throughout the 1910s and 1920s. In 1916, for example, he was in New York’s Carnegie Hall, where he gave a recital of his compositions, including sections from his second violin sonata, which is considered to be one of his finest works in this genre. Of his larger works, perhaps his Piano Concerto (1918) and Romantic Symphony (1920) best represent his accomplishments in this area.