Cristian Amigo

Amigo moved to New York City from LA in 2003, and quickly established himself on the Latin music, free improv, "new music", and theater scenes. Some new and recent projects include producing 25 Years of New York New Music(innova Recordings) – a 10 CD anthology of New York new music composers (Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Annea Lockwood, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Fred Ho, Joan Tower, + 54 more, three solo CDs Cristian Amigo: Live LA Sessions (BA Records), Kingdom of Jones (innova), The Buzzy Garden (innova), and collaborations/works with Eve Beglarian, violinist Mary Rowell ETHEL, Lost Dog New Music Ensemble, Elliott Sharp, Dom Minasi, Miguel Frasconi, Hans Tammen, Corey Dargel, JACK Quartet, pianist Jenny Lin, Jason Hwang's Spontaneous River Orchestra, Izzi Ramkissoon's Electric Eel Multimedia Ensemble, ARK Guitar Trio, choreographer Jill Sigman/thinkdance, librettists Royce Vavrek and Emily Conbere, drummer Andrew Drury, drummer/composer Gustavo Aguilar, and the Guidonian Hand among many others.

Amigo's artistic career had a major breakthrough while doing research for his Ph.D. in New York City during the summer of 2001. He was hired for a gig with the Afro-Peruvian guitarist Carlos Hayre. Hayre invited Amigo to become his second guitarist. He performed with Hayre on tour in many concerts, including the 2002 World Festival of Sacred Music in Los Angeles and the Brava Theater in San Francisco. Amigo remained based in New York City, and accolades soon followed. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition in 2006, the Van Lier Fellowship from Meet the Composer. In 2016-17, Amigo was named a Fulbright Scholar for his artistic work. His works has been supported and/or produced by organizations including the Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), New York City Opera, Jerome Foundation, American Composers Forum, New York State Music Fund, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Danish Arts Council, Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, LAByrinth Theater Company, Boy Scouts of America, José Limón Dance Company, Sundance Institute's Film Composer Labs, UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance (APPEX/Asian Pacific Performance Exchange), CSI (CUNY) Foundation, ASK Playwright/Composer Labs, Durfee Foundation, Teatro del Pueblo (Minneapolis), Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.), INTAR, Oslo Elsewhere, and the 24 Hour Plays. His film scores have been featured at the Sundance Film Festival and the Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival in Los Angeles.

Amigo began working as a professional musician in Miami at age 14. He studied at Miami-Dade Community College with Vincent Bredice, Lou Mowad, and George Aguiar while in High School. He played in top 40 bands and worked as a session guitarist on jingles and records and collaborated with and was in the local music scene with many future well known musicians (Alain Berge, Narada Michael Walden, Raul Malo, Nil Lara, Froilan "Fro" Sosa, Lee Levin, John Joseph). He moved to LA in 1986 to pursue music and a university education.

He entered the music program at Florida State University in 1980 at the age 17. While there he studied classical guitar under Bruce Holzman. After earning an Associate of Arts diploma from FSU, Amigo moved to Miami and actively performed in recording sessions and original and cover bands while attending music classes at University of Miami. His first recording session at age 17 was the top 40 Narada Michael Walden-produced "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" by Jermaine Stewart. He moved Los Angeles to pursue music and a university education and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from California State University, Northridge, and both a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles. He also studied jazz with Kenny Burrell and Gary Pratt, and the sitar with Harihar Rao. His professors at UCLA included Anthony Seeger, Susan McClary, Edwin Seroussi, Tara Browner, Ali Jihad Racy, and Jacqueline Djedje. In LA he also studied composition with Wadada Leo Smith for a short time.

Cristian Amigo (born 1963) is an American composer, improviser, guitarist, sound designer, and ethnomusicologist. His compositional and performing output includes blues and soul, music for the theater, chamber and orchestral music, opera, avant-jazz and rock music, and art/pop song. He has also recorded solo albums on the innova, Deep Ecology and BA labels. Amigo earned a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from UCLA where he focused on the music of Chile, Peru, and Argentina. He is currently composer-in-residence at INTAR Theater in New York City and Adjunct Professor of Theater sound Design at BMCC (CUNY).