Eligio Luis Quinteiro
Eligio Luis Quinteiro was born in Las Palmas (Spain). He started piano lessons at age six, before studying classical guitar with Olímpiades García and Joaquín Prats at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Las Palmas, and with Demetrio Ballesteros at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid. He obtained his degree (Título de Profesor Superior de Guitarra y Vihuela) in 1993.
He began studying lute and theorbo in 1989 with Eugène Ferré at the Conservatoire National de Région de Toulouse. He participated in masterclasses with Sonja Prunnbauer, Paul O’Dette, Hopkinson Smith, Jordi Savall and José Miguel Moreno.
He moved to London in 1997, where he followed a postgraduate course in Early Music at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, studying with David Miller (Lute & Theorbo), Nancy Hadden (Renaissance Music) and David Roblou (Continuo & Baroque Music). He then studied conducting with Katie Thomas, Denise Ham and Richard Cooke.
Eligio Luis Quinteiro is the artistic director & conductor of the ensembles Capilla Cayrasco & Camerata Cayrasco. He has appeared as guest conductor with various ensembles in choral & orchestral projects ranging from Ockeghem to Prokofiev. He has recorded with Capilla Cayrasco a CD dedicated to sacred music by Ockeghem & Josquin for Barn Cottage Records.
As a soloist, he has performed recitals on the guitar, lute & theorbo, performing also as accompanist for recitals of Baroque song (on theorbo) and Romantic lied (on Romantic guitar). Eligio Luis has played guitar in operas and symphonic works where the instrument has a specific role, such as Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Weber’s Oberon, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Verdi’s Otello, Verdi’s Falstaff, Mahler’s Symphony no. 7 & Berg’s Wozzeck.
As a specialist in basso continuo, Eligio Luis is a member of I Fagiolini (Hollingworth), The Sixteen (Christophers), English Baroque Soloists (Gardiner), The King’s Consort (King), Gabrieli Consort & Players (McCreesh), Early Opera Company (Curnyn), Ex Cathedra (Skidmore), St. James’s Baroque (O’Donnell) and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He also performs with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Opera North, Orchestra of the English National Opera, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Royal Northern Sinfonia, London Handel Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, The English Concert, Academy of Ancient Music, Scottish Ensemble, The Hanover Band, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Florilegium, Passacaglia & La Serenissima. With all these groups he has recorded and/or performed in many of the major concert halls and festivals.
He has been invited to teach at the Royal College of Music in London, Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, Conservatorio Superior de Música de Canarias, Conservatorio Profesional de Música de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Conservatorio Profesional de Música ‘Arturo Soria’ in Madrid and the Conservatorio Profesional de Música ‘Padre Antonio Soler’ in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, where he has given masterclasses and workshops in performance practice, chamber music, basso continuo, lute & guitar.
Eligio Luis works occasionally as a music editor. He has also collaborated with the musicologist Lothar Siemens transcribing sacred works by the Spanish Baroque composer Diego Durón, ‘maestro de capilla’ in Las Palmas Cathedral.
He has recorded for the labels Glossa, Erato, Chandos, ASV Gaudeamus, AVIE Records, Hyperion, Linn Records, CORO, Naxos, Heliodor, Signum Classics, Vanguard Classics, EMI, Lauda, Novum, The Classical Recording Company, Challenge Classics, Universal Jazz, OBS Prometeo, SFZ Music, Soli Deo Gloria, Channel Classics & Barn Cottage Records, including duo recordings (with J. M. Moreno) of music by John Dowland, Gaspar Sanz & Luys Milán for Glossa, and a collaboration with the singer-songwriter Kate Bush on her disc Aerial for EMI.
He has also performed for the soundtracks of the films Bedtime Stories (Rupert Gregson-Williams, 2008) and Le Moine (Alberto Iglesias, 2011).
“The continuo is realised with unerring skill and taste: Quinteiro’s theorbo provides a suggestive base around which the soloists swirl.”
W. Yeoman, Classical Source
“Eligio Luis Quinteiro dirige avec précision, finesse, économie: il affirme une maturité artistique étonnante qui saisit par la fluidité et l’opulence intimiste de la sonorité de son ensemble.”
A. Pham, Classiquenews
“Con un grupo humano tan disciplinado, un repertorio tan cuidadosamente escogido y todo ello auspiciado por la magnificente sonoridad de la Catedral, no es de extrañar que nuestro reputado músico y director[Quinteiro] se convirtiera en el perfecto catalizador para que la música fluyera con sobrenatural libertad y precisión, conduciendo con gesto flexible y casi coreográfico a los integrantes de la Capilla Cayrasco hacia elevadas cotas de perfección.”
D.M.M., Voces de Cuenca