COLOMBIAN CONCERTO FOR EUPHONIUM and BAND by ANDRÉS BARUTI (Colombia, 1992)

[#335] Dec 22, 2025 Colombia | 2024 | Euphonium and Band | Grade 6 | 18’ | Solo Work

Premiered by Banda Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia

conducted by Hugo Andrés Riaño Ángel on 23 November 2024 in Bogota

Colombian Concerto for Euphonium and Band by Colombian composer and performer Andrés Baruti is our Composition of the Week.

The concerto was premiered on November 23, 2024, with the National Symphonic Band of Colombia, featuring Hugo Andrés Riaño Ángel as guest conductor and the Colombian euphonium soloist Julián Lamar.

The piece was commissioned by the Santander Brass Academy for the 3rd edition of the National Brass Competition in the euphonium category.

“This composition is the result of research on the Colombian bombardino and its transition into the modern euphonium. Each movement is dedicated to different Colombian bombardino and euphonium performers: • First Movement: Jorge Negrete – Hernán Contreras – Roberto Ordosgoitia • Second Movement: Jhon Carlos Ramos – Leonidas Valencia • Third Movement: Sebastián Rozo – Ramón Darío Benítez The musicians mentioned above are bombardino or euphonium performers who have played a significant and influential role in the history and evolution of these instruments within Colombian music. The Colombian Concerto for Euphonium is a vibrant tribute to the musical diversity of Colombia, bringing together traditional rhythms with the expressive power of a rarely featured solo instrument. Across three movements, the concerto explores the sound worlds of the Caribbean, Pacific, and Llanos regions, blending folk genres such as cumbia, fandango, aguabajo, bambuco viejo, and joropo with the colors and structures of Western concert music. The euphonium—known for its warm, voice-like timbre—serves as the narrative thread, shifting between lyrical lines, virtuosic passages, and improvisatory gestures inspired by Colombian brass traditions. Each movement honors influential musicians who shaped the composer’s artistic path, transforming personal experience into musical storytelling. Through its fusion of tradition and innovation, the concerto offers a contemporary vision of Colombian identity, positioning the euphonium as a compelling solo voice within the symphonic landscape.” Notes by Andrés Baruti

Andrés Baruti is a Colombian euphonium player, composer, and music producer, originally from the town of Anapoima in the department of Cundinamarca. He studied contemporary music at the School of Media, Arts, and Technology (EMMAT), where he developed a multidisciplinary education with a contemporary approach.

Baruti has established himself as a unique voice in concert music and experimental projects in Colombia and Latin America. A composer of programmatic music, his work is defined by a strong narrative sensitivity and a sonic aesthetic shaped by conceptual and expressive exploration.

Baruti's music is not just heard — it is experienced. Each piece unfolds as a sonic narrative where visual, poetic, and cultural elements converge. His interest in the dialogue between music and other artistic disciplines is reflected in compositions that interact with literature, cinema, contemporary art, and oral traditions. His works often contain an internal dramaturgy that guides the listener through dreamlike atmospheres, abstract landscapes, or symbolically charged scenes.

He currently lives in Zagreb, Croatia, where he develops one of his most notable projects: Out the House, a vanguard interpretation of Colombian music. In this project, Baruti explores rhythm through electronic production techniques, synthetic timbres, and non-traditional structures that break away from dance conventions, leaning closer to sound installation than to the dancefloor. The project not only provides an urban and globalized perspective on folklore but also raises questions about the origins of our need to move the body — a core aspect of Colombian musical experience.

In his more academic works, Baruti demonstrates rigorous technical command and a clear influence of Colombian traditional music, process-based minimalism, and postmodern aesthetics. However, what truly distinguishes his music is its emotional power — the ability to build bridges between the rational and the intuitive, the local and the universal.

Ultimately, Andrés Baruti is a programmatic music composer who inhabits the margins: between genres, between media, and between times. His work represents a constant search for new forms of expression — a sonic proposal that invites us to listen with different ears and to think of music as a space for resistance and poetic creation.

More information and inquires to Andrés Baruti

barutimusic@gmail.com