José L. Elizondo (b. 1972) studied composition with Edward Cohen and Peter Child at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he received degrees in Music, Humanities and Electrical Engineering. At Harvard University, Mr. Elizondo studied analysis, orchestration and conducting with Robert Levin, James Yannatos and Jameson Marvin respectively.

Elizondo has composed orchestral, choral, and solo works which have been performed throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, North and South America. Commissions include works for distinguished performers such as legendary Mexican cellist Carlos Prieto, groups such as the Mexico City Chamber Orchestra, the Brighton Youth Orchestra (England), the MIT Chamber Chorus, as well as chamber music for private arts patrons. CD recordings of Mr. Elizondo's compositions will be released in 1999 in Australia (PUCS), Canada (CBC) and the United States (CCO).

Elizondo's orchestral suite "Estampas Mexicanas" was first performed by the MIT Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Epstein in December 1995. In July 1996, the San Jose Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of maestro Leonid Grin, performed the professional premiere of "Estampas Mexicanas" at an outdoor concert of the America Festival, receiving a standing ovation from an enthusiastic crowd of 25,000 people. Mr. Elizondo became then the youngest composer to have been featured at this festival. Since then, "Estampas Mexicanas" has been heard at over 50 concerts by orchestras on five continents, including acclaimed performances by the National Symphony of Kazakhstan (USSR), the Mexico State Symphony Orchestra, the Canberra Orchestra (Australia), the Brighton Youth Orchestra (England), and the Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestra (USA). Concerts of Mr. Elizondo's symphonic music have been given at the request of organizations and personalities such as President Nursultan Nazarbayev of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the British Parliament and Amnesty International.

Mr. Elizondo's compositions have been featured at the Banff International Festival (Canada, 1998), the Ayton Castle Music Festival (Scotland, 1998), the Hispanic Heritage Festival (USA, 1998), the Laboratorio Novamusica Contemporary Music Series (Italy, 1997), the ADUR Festival (England, 1998), and the America Festival (USA, 1996). After a successful tour of England and Scotland in 1997 featuring Elizondo's symphonic music, the Brighton Youth Orchestra performed "Estampas Mexicanas" at Chichester Cathedral and the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, England. It then commissioned Mr. Elizondo to write a major symphonic work to celebrate the new millennium.

Elizondo's awards include the 1995 M.I.T. Gregory Tucker Memorial Prize for Music, selection as a 1992 M.I.T. Burchard Scholar, and several grants by the M.I.T. Council for the Arts for the production of a concert series, which he founded and directed (1990-1996), and for the production of adventurous contemporary music concerts (1996-present) featuring distinguished New England composers and performers. Elizondo is also known for his efforts in promoting twentieth-century music, with an emphasis on Latin American works by living composers. In 1996, Elizondo was nominated for Hispanic Magazine's list of 20 most influential Hispanics in the United States.

Mr. Elizondo's debut as a conductor took place on March 1998, when he conducted a series of concerts with the Coyoacán Symphony Orchestra, in the Mexico City premiere of one of his works. He has also been vocal director fot the MIT Musical Theatre Guild's production of Stephen Sondheim's musical "Into the Woods". In January 1999, Elizondo assisted in the preparation of a series of concerts and a CD recording of Peter Child's "Estrella" with the critically acclaimed Cantata Singers (David Hoose, music director). He is also involved as a diction coach for the Boston Camerata (Joel Cohen, music director) in their 1999 production of "Nueva España" for the Boston Early Music Festival and a tour of Europe. Mr. Elizondo is music director and founder of Senza Misura, a Boston based chamber chorus.

Initially, Mr. Elizondo's music studies had focused on keyboard performance. He began his piano studies at the age of five. Two years later, he was awarded a scholarship to study music theory and performance at the School of Fine Arts of the UACH at a competition organized by Mexico's National Endowment for the Arts (FONAPAS). That same year he received the first of a series of national awards for organ performance at the Yamaha National Organ Festivals (1980, 1985 and 1987). Elizondo taught music performance at the Yamaha Music School for several years, throughout high school. From 1980 to 1992, he also gave numerous piano and organ recitals in Mexico and the United States.

Elizondo has also sung as a member of several Boston-based choirs, including the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus (Constance DeFotis and Jeffrey Bernstein), the Harvard Glee Club (Jameson Marvin), the MIT Concert Choir and the MIT Chamber Chorus (John Oliver and William Cutter), the Tanglewood Festival Chorus (John Oliver - with the Boston Pops Orchestra led by John Williams) and Chorus ProMusica (Jeffrey Rink - with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra led by Benjamin Zander).