Rodrigo Sigal receives the 2024 Fine Arts Medal for his musical revolution

Composer Rodrigo Sigal, who has explored new sound and technological frontiers, received the 2024 Bellas Artes Medal yesterday for his musical work. The award, presented in the Manuel M. Ponce Hall of the Palacio de Bellas Artes, recognizes his excellence and commitment, as well as his ability to innovate in a field as specialized as electroacoustics.

The ceremony was attended by Lucina Jiménez, director of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL); Luis Tareke Ortiz, head of the System of Support for Creation and Cultural Projects –representing the federal Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto–, and the multidisciplinary artist Alejandro Escuer, who recalled the moment when he met Sigal in the late 1990s.

“One of his great contributions is the Mexican Center for Music and Sonic Arts (CMMAS), founded in Morelia, Michoacán, an institution that has become an international reference and a fundamental space for experimentation and teaching of electroacoustic music in Mexico.

Rodrigo’s music has a special power, it reflects a profound philosophy of life between sophistication and originality.

During her speech, Lucina Jiménez highlighted Sigal’s role as a protagonist in the musical revolution in the country, since “he has not only created his own work, but has opened spaces for experimentation and linked art and technology in ways that previously seemed unattainable.

The Bellas Artes Medal represents the Mexican government’s recognition of committed artists who dedicate their lives to expanding artistic horizons.

Sigal’s legacy – Jiménez added – goes beyond musical composition. As an educator and cultural manager he has demonstrated an unusual ability to combine these roles with his creative activity.

Rodrigo came to Mexico and has done the best intellectual, digital and educational work that could have been done in the field of the relationship between music and technology. The creation of CMMAS strengthened the dialogue between musicians and technologists, in addition to putting our country on the international map of electroacoustic music.

Rodrigo Sigal (Mexico City, 1971) acknowledged that his career as a composer has been marked by three fronts: management, training and creation. He stressed the importance of having developed a large part of his career in Morelia, a city he has considered his home for more than 20 years.

He also fondly recalled his formative years under the tutelage of great teachers such as Mario Lavista, who encouraged him not to miss any event at Bellas Artes, and figures such as María Antonieta Lozano, Daniel Catán and Javier Álvarez, who taught him that composition is a solitary process, but also a public one.

Music is much more than a set of sounds; it is a network of human and technological connections that allows us to explore new forms of creation and dissemination.he concluded.

The judging committee was made up of Lucina Jiménez and the composers Ana Lara, Ricardo Gallardo and Gerardo Tamez.