Rafael Antonio Nazario (also Raphael, or "Raf Nazario"; born July 30,
1952) is a Puerto Rican-born pianist, composer and arranger and actor.
He has had a parallel career as chef, author and occasional wine
writer.Nazario's recordings range from Latin music to instrumental
compositions, pop songs in English, classical-oriented piano and
orchestral works. His debut album, Patria Añorada (1999, reissued
2004), contains songs in a variety of Hispanic-American styles and
features lyrical and jazz-influenced arrangements. Nazario's music
includes idioms and vernacular rooted in Puerto Rico's JÃbaro
culture, evoking the nueva canción and nueva trova styles of
Hispanic-American music.Nazario was born in the Santurce district of
San Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Elvira Piñeiro Prieto and Rafael
Nazario Cardona, a newspaper pressman. Rafael Sr was the eldest of 18,
and according to the family's oral history, their father, Francisco
Nazario was one of the foundersâ€"along with Romualdo Realâ€"of the
Puerto Rico Ilustrado magazine, and later the newspaper El Mundo
(Puerto Rico). His mother was of Spanish (Canarian), Portuguese and
Dutch ancestry. His maternal grandfather, Amador Piñeiro, was one of
the last train station superintendents on the island. Rafael Sr. moved
the family to Costa Rica when Nazario was a few months old and years
later settled in Jersey City, New Jersey, where Nazario attended St
Aedens School. They returned to Puerto Rico when Nazario was nine
years of age. He eventually studied at the De La Salle (Christian
Brothers) School in the suburban city of Bayamón, where they lived.
It was at La Salle that Nazario first became involved in theatre,
under the direction of Luis J. Cruz.Upon graduation from high school,
Nazario left the island to study piano and music composition, living
temporarily with his godparents in Miami, Florida. As he did not play
an instrument and had never taken a music lesson, he did not win a
place at any colleges he approached. However, an admission-board
member at the University of Notre Dame admired the young man's
initiative. Rev. Michael J. Heppen, C.S.C., invited Nazario to apply
to the University of Portland, where Rev. Heppen was director of
admissions. University of Portland's Dean of Music, Philippe de la
Mare, was in France that summer, visiting his former teacher, Nadia
Boulanger. In this manner, Nazario gained entry to the University of
Portland School of Music even though his repertoire consisted of less
than a minute of Beethoven's Sonata No. 14 (“Moonlight Sonata†).
1952) is a Puerto Rican-born pianist, composer and arranger and actor.
He has had a parallel career as chef, author and occasional wine
writer.Nazario's recordings range from Latin music to instrumental
compositions, pop songs in English, classical-oriented piano and
orchestral works. His debut album, Patria Añorada (1999, reissued
2004), contains songs in a variety of Hispanic-American styles and
features lyrical and jazz-influenced arrangements. Nazario's music
includes idioms and vernacular rooted in Puerto Rico's JÃbaro
culture, evoking the nueva canción and nueva trova styles of
Hispanic-American music.Nazario was born in the Santurce district of
San Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Elvira Piñeiro Prieto and Rafael
Nazario Cardona, a newspaper pressman. Rafael Sr was the eldest of 18,
and according to the family's oral history, their father, Francisco
Nazario was one of the foundersâ€"along with Romualdo Realâ€"of the
Puerto Rico Ilustrado magazine, and later the newspaper El Mundo
(Puerto Rico). His mother was of Spanish (Canarian), Portuguese and
Dutch ancestry. His maternal grandfather, Amador Piñeiro, was one of
the last train station superintendents on the island. Rafael Sr. moved
the family to Costa Rica when Nazario was a few months old and years
later settled in Jersey City, New Jersey, where Nazario attended St
Aedens School. They returned to Puerto Rico when Nazario was nine
years of age. He eventually studied at the De La Salle (Christian
Brothers) School in the suburban city of Bayamón, where they lived.
It was at La Salle that Nazario first became involved in theatre,
under the direction of Luis J. Cruz.Upon graduation from high school,
Nazario left the island to study piano and music composition, living
temporarily with his godparents in Miami, Florida. As he did not play
an instrument and had never taken a music lesson, he did not win a
place at any colleges he approached. However, an admission-board
member at the University of Notre Dame admired the young man's
initiative. Rev. Michael J. Heppen, C.S.C., invited Nazario to apply
to the University of Portland, where Rev. Heppen was director of
admissions. University of Portland's Dean of Music, Philippe de la
Mare, was in France that summer, visiting his former teacher, Nadia
Boulanger. In this manner, Nazario gained entry to the University of
Portland School of Music even though his repertoire consisted of less
than a minute of Beethoven's Sonata No. 14 (“Moonlight Sonata†).
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