Biography
Pablo Salvador is a poet, writer, director and producer of music, film and opera. He studied classical piano and percussion at the National Music Conservatory in Chile with teachers Galvarino Mendoza and Helena Corvalán, and later with professor Charles Dowd at the School of Music, University of Oregon in the USA. He is a Master in Arts from the University of Stockholm, Sweden, where he also studied philosophy and Hispanic literature. Pablo Salvador is a lecturer in film and art with a successful teaching record at Beijing Film Academy, probably the largest film school-institution in the world. His articles about film and music have been published in Brecha Semanario, one of South America's leading cultural and political reviews, and El Mercurio, the world's oldest Spanish speaking newspaper. His songs, written in collaboration with an array of composers, are regularly played by radios around the world. In 2015 Finnish National Radio dedicated an entire program to the music of Cesaria Evora and to the songs written by Pablo Salvador and his sister, Tania Naranjo, with whom he co-produced the record "La Industria del Miedo" (with original songs in Spanish, English and Swedish).
In 2002 he became the youngest artistic director to be in charge of a major music institution in the history of Sweden, with an annual budget of nearly 80 million Swedish Crowns. Pablo Salvador produced over 350 concerts during his tenure, including collaborations with leading soloists, composers and orchestras from Europe and South America.
His work as assistant director include Donizetti's "L'Elissir D'Amore" (directed by Andrea De Rosa) for the Royal Opera in Denmark, and "The Golden Compass" (directed by Eijoun Johannesen) for Aarhus Theatre. His work as stage director include the Scandinavian premiere of the tango-opera "María de Buenos Aires" (conducted by Marcelo Nisinman), a show that toured Sweden, and oratorio "Axion Esti" by Mikis Theodorakis, co-produced with Swedish Radio at the national concert hall Berwaldhallen in Stockholm. He has also directed two experimental 'long' short films in collaboration with composer Jorge Arriagada: "History of a Chair" and "Medea's Ark".
His one act opera "Promenade Abyss", written in collaboration with composer Anna Lena Laurin, was performed exclusively for the official celebration of Søren Kierkegaard's bicentennial in Denmark. The ceremony took part on the 5th of May 2013 and was headed by the queen and number of international guests, among them leading Hungarian philosopher Erwin Lazslo. It was broadcast live, worldwide.
Formative Years: During his childhood he experienced the enchantment of both Chilean and Anglo-Saxon folk music on a daily basis, since his mother, who is from Chile but of English origin, sang many tunes by Joan Baez and other popular singers of her time while at home. His sister completed his schooling by singing the songs of Violeta Parra, Victor Jara, Inti-Illimani and Los Jaivas. The spontaneous performances of his mother and sister were mixed with the rich diversity of the family's LP collection: Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, The Beatles, Beethoven, Schubert and Michael Jackson, to name a few, were played regularly on the record player. His father, a biologist and physician with a penchant for politics and poetry, wrote and read thousands of short and medium long poems on a daily basis. This wide-ranging background gave him a perspective that was free of any genre definition. Politics was also a crossroads at his home, with close family members being politically active on both sides of the spectrum.
He left for Sweden together with his family, where his parents were welcomed as political refugees. There he continued his artistic development with the help of percussion professor Björn Liljequist.
Cinema: After 'discovering' cinema's profound musical nature in 1995, he decided to complete his studies with film. He was a student at the European Film College in Denmark at a time when experienced film producer Kjell Veirup was head principal. This formative experience followed the traditional school of cinema and had a profound impact on his understanding of this endless artistic medium. Professional filmmakers like directors Bille August and David Saperstein, and producer Jan Harlan reinforced (as temporary guests) a teaching staff that included professors Mark Le Fanu, Ian Fraser and Hollywood based screenwriter Jeff Mcqueen.
Raúl Ruiz: In 2001 he was approached by commissioning editor Ole Tornbjerg of Easy Film in Copenhagen, to write a screenplay for a film about the history of Tango. After directors Allan Parker and Anders Østergaard turned down the project, Pablo Salvador managed to attach award winning Chilean director Raúl Ruiz, with the help of composer Jorge Arriagada. This was the turning point in his understanding of how an artistic process should be approached in depth. Several dinners at Raúl Ruiz' private home and at a number of Chinese restaurants in Paris, served as inspiration for their writing sessions, which were a complete re-schooling in philosophical terms. Through the looking glass of Raúl Ruiz, a director who enchanted Cannes with his labyrinthine film "Time Regained", Pablo Salvador managed to embark on a holistic artistic view, a tenet that he continues to exercise both as an artist and as a lecturer.
