Roque Cordero

Composer and conductor Roque Cordero was born in Panama City in 1917. He composed his first works while still in high school; his march "Reina de Amor" won a national prize in 1937. In 1943 he received a scholarship to study at the University of Minnesota, and later, at Hamline University, where he studied composition with Ernst Krenek. Returning to Panama, Cordero took positions with the National Institute of Music and the National Symphony of Panama. Later, he returned to the U.S. to teach at Indiana University and Illinois State University. He died in Dayton, Ohio at the age of 91. Many of Cordero’s compositions feature a synthesis of Panamanian folk elements and modern European techniques.

Maestro Cordero’s Compositions