Meet Carlos Durán

We recently connected with Carlos Durán and have shared our conversation below.

Carlos, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?

I think my optimism comes from two places:
First, doing what I love. I am following the dream I had as a kid which is writing music for media (films, tv, and videogames)
Second, from all the support my parents and my friends give me, and overall being surrounded by a network of talented and sensitive artists that support my work.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I was born in Bogotá, Colombia in a particularly artistic family, where musical creativity was at the core of our daily lives. I grew up in an environment where every news, events, and even “mundane” things would be turned into songs and rhymes. There is a transformative effect that music has on people and I have always been fascinated by it. I consider myself a music story teller and I dedicate my life to make music for films, tv and concert. I studied Classical Guitar and Composition in Bogotá at the Conservatory at The National University of Colombia, then did a Master’s degree in Composition at Mannes School of Music at The New School in New York, and now I am finishing a PhD in Music Composition for Visual Media at The Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA.

Currently, I am preparing for a monographic concert which will take place in Bogotá on November 6th of this year. The program will feature to premieres and a selection of pieces that in my opinion, best represent my voice as a composer. Also, it is the first time I am having a concert exclusively dedicated to showcase my chamber music. The pieces in the program pay homage to the vastly diverse musical upbringing I had, and you will hear sometimes an abstraction, a deconstruction, or a recreation of the genres I was exposed to when growing up, a musical portrait which seems more like a journey from Colombian and Latin American Folklore, to American Ballads, Pop, Jazz, Rock, Metal, EDM, Afrocaribbean, and Classical music. The whole idea is as exciting as it is terrifying!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Perseverance:
I came to the US to study a master’s in composition at Mannes School of Music in New York thanks to the support of the Central Bank of Colombia and their Young Talent Fellowship given to one musician every two years. Coming from a low-income family, studying in a private conservatory in the US is something you only dream of, I applied to several scholarships to cover the expenses and most of them rejected my application, some of them had timing issues that didn’t allow me to start in the fall. However, I kept working until I exhausted all of my options. There were times I saw more reasons to quit at every step of the process but, I am thankful that I persisted.

Resilience:
Life is full of failures and frustration, but being able to take the blows and bounce back has proven to be very helpful in my life. I came to understand that there are many paths to achieve what we want.
During the pandemic, I had the most stressful time in my life yet, while I was happy to get my master’s degree, I faced an intricate situation where, while I was supposed to leave New York, I couldn’t go back to Colombia due to the closing of borders, leaving me with little options to seek shelter. I lived in a theater for about two weeks before my colleague and best friend James Díaz let me crash at his place for over two months in Philadelphia. I thought my career as a composer was over, or at least the promise of one. Yet, when I came back to Colombia I decided to take on more scoring projects, and in a time where all musicians were struggling I was able to write music for two TV series and several short films, which sparked the idea of coming to Los Angeles to pursue my PhD in Composition for Visual Media.

Trust:
You can look at this skill from two perspectives, in one hand we need to trust the amount of time and effort we have invested in achieving our goals, especially when we are so deep in the process that we forget about the bigger picture. I left New York with immense sadness, thinking that I had failed at the promise of a career as a music composer. I kept thinking I was regressing and somehow undoing everything that I experienced during those intense two years of my Master’s. But, once I got admitted at UCLA to pursue my PhD in composition, I realized life is indeed very long. Projects, relationships, and goals can take years to bloom, so we need to trust what we put our love and dedication into and strive for better times.
On the other hand, trusting others and being trustworthy has saved me multiple times. I owe everything to my friends, colleagues, and collaborators. All of my big projects have come from being a reliable, as a professional and as a human being. Which is why, I am a strong advocate of a supporting community and I want to be as strong and reliable as possible to be able to contribute to such community.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

Aside from their immeasurable support for a career in music, both my parents have taught me key principles that I keep with me even today.
They taught me to trust in the music I make, and the work that I do. “Your music will open doors” is an encouraging phrase my father use to say when I had doubts. Of course there’s more to this job that having good music. That is a given, however, his phrase inspires me to keep improving on my music making skills.
My mother on the other hand taught me independence and assertiveness, her eagle-mom mentality has helped me achieve things that I could only dream of. This job puts you in a paradoxical situation in that, writing music is a lonely task, many composers (myself included) tend to be more introverted as a result. But, to thrive in this business we need to go out and constantly meet new people. So every time I am putting myself out there and I want to run away, I remember my mom’s eagle mentality which pushes me off the cliff of my confort zone, so I can learn how to fly.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.carlosdurancomposer.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duran.zarate/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/duranzarate.composer
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@carlosdurancomposer

Image Credits

Mariangela Quiroga
Ana María Galindo
Mario Ortegón