Awilda M. Villarini-Garcia[1] (born 6 February 1940) is a Puerto Rican composer and pianist [2] who publishes and performs under the name "Awilda Villarini."[3]
Villarini was born in Patillas. Her first piano teacher was her mother, who was a church organist.[4] She went on to earn a B. Mus. (1961) from Peabody Conservatory and a M. Mus. (1973) from the Juilliard School.[5] Grants from the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture[6] enabled Villarini to study piano in Paris and Vienna. She received a Ford Foundation scholarship for a Ph. D. from New York University in 1979.[4] Her dissertation was entitled A Study of Selected Puerto Rican Danzas for the Piano.[7] Villarini's teachers included Claus Adam, Jean Marie Darre, Carmelina Figureoa, Alexander Gorodnitzky, William Kroll, Eugene List, Walter Panhofer, and Dieter Weber.[8][9]
Villarini received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1981.[1] She was the 1985 winner of the Artist International Piano Award.[4] The late New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg wrote: "I have heard Liszt's Transcendental Etude in f minor by hundreds of young pianists in different piano competitions. Ms. Villarini's technique and interpretation proved to be superior to all of them. She is an exciting romantic pianist."[10]
Villarini's compositions include:
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