03/10/2020 - 19:09
- Clarín.com
- Society
Argentine saxophonist Marcelo Peralta died Tuesday in Madrid victim of the coronavirus, as announced by the news agency Télam . He was 59 years old and since 1996 he lived in that city, where he had formed the Marcelo Peralta Quartet, with which he toured many countries in Europe.
The musician's death was confirmed in social networks by his colleague and friend, the Argentine guitarist Guillermo Bazzola , who also resides in Spain.
“I am sorry to announce that Marcelo Peralta, a friend of almost a lifetime, died a while ago. A great musician and a huge person. Everyone who has had the privilege of knowing him wanted it and admired it, ”he wrote on his Facebook account.
“Marcelo was one of my closest and oldest friends. We met in 1982 and we were only 'distanced' during those years when he was in Madrid and I was still in Buenos Aires. The rest was music, joy and fun and I will always remember that, ”he added.
In the same post, Bazzola called "extreme precautions in the face of the terrible health emergency that we are living in Madrid and in many other parts of the world."
Peralta had been hospitalized last Thursday for pneumonia , and a few hours later he tested positive for COVID-19.
Born on March 5, 1961 in Buenos Aires, he studied piano and graduated as a teacher in his hometown while receiving sax lessons, an instrument of which he was a professor at the Manuel de Falla Municipal Conservatory in Buenos Aires, with Jazz and Improvisation chairs.
In 1985 Peralta, also a composer, formed the Third World Improvisation Group with which he released his first album, " A thread of light " (1987), and toured as a member of the Litto Nebbia quartet, with which he recorded the album " Looking in the pocket of the soul ”.
He was also part of the Cuatro Vientos sax quartet and was a saxophone soloist in the LRA Radio Nacional Symphony Orchestra.
Since 1996 he lived in Spain and in 2005 he recorded as a soloist with the Spanish Radio Television Symphony Orchestra, works by Pepe Nieto, Gunther Schuller, Leonard Bernstein, along with Bobby Martínez and Chris Kase. He was currently a professor of saxophone, ensemble and improvisation in Creative Music.