Composer, performer and writer Elbio Barilari was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1953. He studied in his own country as well as in Brazil and Germany and moved to the US in 1998. Barilari’s music has been performed by Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo, Orquesta de la Radio y Televisión de España, Colorado Symphony, Grant Park Festival Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta Chamber, Ravinia Festival, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Chicago Children’s Choir, Lyric Opera Orchestra, Chicago Arts Orchestra, and Baroque Band, among others. His music has also been performed by many chamber ensembles and soloists around the world, including clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, trumpet players Orbert Davis and Jon Faddis, bandoneon players Juan José Mosalini, Raúl Jaurena, pianists Mauricio Nader, Susan Merdinger, Avalon String Quartet, Kaia String Quartet, Conjunto de Música de Cámara del Sodre, Ondas Ensemble, and the Millenium Chamber Orchestra.
Barilari’s opera The Tenth Muse was premiered in 2010 at The Goodman Theatre with Music Director Carmen Helena Téllez and Stage Director Henry Godínez.
His residencies include the Latin American Music Center (Bloomington-Indiana), St. Francis University and the Ragdale Foundation. He is also a member of the electric experimental band Volcano Radar, where he plays electric guitar, electric viola and sax.
He is the Artistic Director of the Latino Music Festival, a festival of Latin American classical music started in Chicago in 2005. The LMF attracts an audience of around 10,000 to its 20 concerts every fall. Barilari is a Professor of Latin American Music at UIC and hosts the internationally syndicated radio program Fiesta!, heard on WFMT 98.7 Saturdays at 6PM.