Ramiro Cortes Scholarship Grant

The Ramiro Cortes Scholarship, established by the Community Foundation of North Central Washington, honors the legacy of composer Ramiro Cortés, who was a pioneering Mexican-American musician. This scholarship supports graduating seniors from Chelan or Douglas counties who are pursuing full-time music studies. Funded entirely by concert proceeds, it aims to foster new talent in classical music while commemorating Cortés’ significant contributions to the field.

The Ramiro Cortés Memorial Music Scholarship honors the life and achievement of Ramiro Cortés (1933-1984), the first Mexican-American to earn an international reputation as a composer of classical music. The Cortés scholarship has been entirely funded by the free-will offerings of audiences at a series of scholarship benefit concerts in Wenatchee and Leavenworth. The founder and Artistic Director of the concert series is Steve Stefanides of Wenatchee; he first became acquainted with the music of this remarkable composer when researching repertoire for a graduate school masterclass performance.
Ramiro Cortés was born in Dallas, Texas, on November 25, 1933 to Ramiro Cortés, Sr. and Elvira Cortés (née Acosta). A gifted pianist, he began formal study of music composition during high school in Denver, Colorado with the master lutenist and student of Paul Hindemith, Joseph Iadone. Cortés continued his work with Iadone at the University of Denver with a full-tuition scholarship; he then went on to study at Yale and the University of Southern California with a series of important twentieth century American composers, including Henry Cowell, Richard Donovan, Ingolf Dahl, Vittorio Giannini, Roger Sessions and Halsey Stevens. Cortés’ preparatory period culminated in a Fulbright Fellowship which took him to Rome to study for two years with the Italian composer Goffredo Petrassi. He worked briefly in the 1960s as a computer programmer, and after completion of his graduate studies at Juilliard taught composition at the University of California, Los Angeles (1966–67), University of Southern California (1967–72) and the University of Utah (1972–84), where he was Chair of Music Theory. He died of heart failure in Salt Lake city on July 2, 1984. His papers (including compositions) are held in archive by the University of Utah.

Eligibility

Eligibility:

• Graduating senior who is a Chelan or Douglas County resident
• Enrolled as a full-time student majoring in music