CANGIANO, Liliana

Liliana Cangiano was an Argentine composer, choral arranger, conductor, pianist, and flautist, remembered as one of the most influential figures in Latin American choral music. Born in Buenos Aires in 1951, she graduated from the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires in 1967 as a piano professor, receiving first prize and a gold medal. She later studied harmony and counterpoint and continued her training at the National University of La Plata, where she specialized in orchestral conducting and composition. Cangiano’s creative work was closely connected to Argentine and Latin American popular and folk traditions. From the 1970s onward, she developed a distinctive body of choral arrangements that brought the work of major Latin American poets and songwriters into the repertoire of choirs across Argentina, Latin America, Europe, and beyond. Her arrangements, including works such as Te quiero, Como pájaros en el aire, Locuras, De mí, Yo vengo a ofrecer mi corazón, and others, are valued for their sensitivity to text, rhythmic vitality, and idiomatic choral writing. Alongside her work as a composer and arranger, she founded and directed several choirs, taught choral arranging and conducting, and played an important role in the development of community and popular choral practice in Argentina. Cangiano died in Buenos Aires in 1997, leaving a lasting legacy as one of Latin America’s most respected choral arrangers.