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Composer Osias Wilenski, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has had an accomplished and diverse career in the arts. From an early age, he studied piano with Professor Vicente Scaramuzza with a focus on harmony. With Dr. Erwin Leuchter, a pupil of Alban Berg, Wilenski studied counterpoint and composition.
During the 1950s, through a promotion by pianist Arthur Rubinstein, Wilenski won a scholarship to study at the Juilliard School of Music in New York where he resided for several years.
While in New York, he studied composition with William Bergsma, William Schuman and Vincent Persichetti. He also received private piano lessons from the great virtuoso, Simon Barere. Wilenski started a solo pianist career and played concerts at Hunter College and The Town Hall. After returning to Argentina, he continued his piano tours. However, in 1960, he suddenly abandoned music to dedicate himself to the cinema and television.
During that period, Wilenski directed several short films. Moto Perpetuo (1960) won first prize at the Mar del Plata film festival, and Ramon Gomez de la Serna (1966) won the short film prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.
He also directed two feature films: El Perseguidor (1962), based on a short story by Julio Cortazar, and Dale Nomás (1966), a film in sketches by several Argentinean writers.
In 1975, after several years of directing in the newly built Canal 13 in Buenos Aires, he went back to music as a piano coach at the Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires. Wilenski also returned to composing during this time and, in 1978, he received the Ensemblia first prize from the Buenos Aires Symphony Orchestra for his work Improvisos.
In 1983, he obtained first prize recognition from the Wagnerian Association for his work, La Leyenda del Kaky, a symphonic poem for seven instruments based on an Argentinean Indian legend.
Wilenski left Argentina in 1989 as a result of the convulsive situation there and began work as a principal pianist at the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona. He currently resides in Spain where he has adopted the Spanish nationality. Since 1990, he continues to work on new composition projects and revisions of most of his previous works.
In 2007, he began a series of piano works and chamber music recordings that he either performed or produced.
Wilenski's list of accomplishments includes songs, chamber works, three string quartets, an extensive piano repertoire and four operas.
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