All About Manuel Calzada

Versatile composer, producer, conductor and instrumentalist, Manuel Calzada, has built his career working on many musical arrays, from concert music to studio recording, from theater and pop music to film scoring.

He has been appointed composer in residence of the prestigious Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, the New Albany Symphony Orchestra and the Festival of Youth Orchestra of the Americas. His concert music as much as his popular, film and theater music, has been performed and recorded in Puerto Rico, New York, Latin America, Europe and Los Angeles.

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Calzada has been the recipient of the HOLA Award, the ACE Award and the ATI Award for his compositions for musical theater. Calzada has also been nominated for an Emmy Award for his contribution to Fox Sports, San Diego Padres Pride Commercial. Among his film scores are Killing Winston Jones (with Danny Glover and Academy Award Winner Richard Dreyfuss) and by the Rivers of Babylon (with Crispin Glover and Connie Stevens). 

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Manuel Calzada started his career as a percussionist of different genres, from Latin to Symphonic Music. His formal education started at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. In 2015 he graduated, with a Ph.D from the composition program at UCLA. Currently he is also the Music Director at Teatro SEA in New York and Music Professor in several universities in Southern California.