Schejtman-Schiffrin: Argentine Composers Honoring History

Lincoln graduate Rodrigo Schejtman, winner of the Classical Music World Cup, teamed up with the renowned composer Lalo Schifrin for a new Argentine-Inspired symphony. The musical piece, an homage to the last 40 years of Argentine history, will premiere at Colón theater on April 5, 2025. 

Rodrigo Schejtman, a seasoned musician and a lifelong Lincoln learner from the Class of 2002, teamed with the famous argentina composer Lalo Schifrin to release a symphony as an homage to the last 40 years of Argentine history. The composition will premiere in the Teatro Colón, on April 5th, 2025, and will then be presented in other prestigious concert halls around the world.

After six months of teamwork in Los Angeles, the two composers finally announced their work. The symphony, which is approximately 35 minutes long, will be presented by an orchestra of a hundred musicians.  “We have composed a symphony dedicated to Argentina and our optimism that its best days are yet to come,” Schifrin shared in a local newspaper. Regarding this collaboration, Rodrigo added: “Our love for music and for our homeland brought us together in this historic project.” 

It’s the collision of generations. Schifrin, 92 years old, has a stellar career in Hollywood, producing the music of over a hundred movies; one of the most recognized being the iconic song of Mission Impossible. Rod Schejtman, 39 years old, has been crowned winner of the  WorldVision Composers Contest, a prestigious competition also known as The World Cup of Classical Music. The synergy of both composers is indeed unique. As Rodrigo expressed in a media outlet, it's “a celebration of our shared vision of the future of classical music.” In the same interview, Schifrin shared his hopes that “it will be the first of many works we will compose together.” 

Today, Rodrigo stands as a recognized musician. His narratives of passion, fear, calmness, and epiphany are now played on international radio, TV, in grand concert halls, palaces, and live events. 

From a Lincoln learner to a Music Champion

The WorldVision Composers Contest is an international competition that seeks to discover the greatest composers of today's classical music. On October 1st of 2023, Rodrigo Schejtman won first place after competing for two years with 88 of the most talented musicians from 32 countries! "This was not just another contest for me, it was one where I was tested in all areas of music and it took more than thirty years of study, effort and dedication just to be ready to participate in this Classical Music World Cup", Rod shared in an interview with a local newspaper.

The event, organized by the renowned group known as Classic@Home, had three strict stages: regional, national, and international. In each, the participants had to craft sophisticated symphonic masterpieces that required the coordination of almost 100 musicians on stage, with over 35 distinct instruments that the composer must know in depth. It was the ultimate test of their abilities as composers, orchestrators, musical theorists, and researchers. 

"Luce Nell'Oscurità" (“Light in Times of Darkness”) was Rodrigo’s piece in the finals, representing Argentina against other intricate works from Mexico and the Philippines. After a panel of international classical music experts evaluated the composition, which required  80 musicians on stage, had a string section of 59 performers and a diverse assortment of wind, brass, percussion, and harp instruments, the public vote crowned our former student the winner.

As the world champion for his intimate and hopeful composition, he won 10.000 euros, the professional recording of his works by the prestigious symphonic orchestra Digital Orchestra, under the baton of the prestigious conductor Mikhail Golikov, and a live performance at the Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria, with the Nova Orchester Wien (NOW) symphony orchestra. 

From a music lover to a professional musician

With a musician as a father and a piano in his living room, music was always part of Rogrigo’s life. It was not long before he asked his parents to start music lessons. As a teenager, his interest turned to composition. “I needed to understand how the great composers had created their works. Composing my own music was the possibility of sharing my feelings, sensations, and communicating a message that would reach the depths of other people,” Rodrigo explains in an interview with a local news site. 

Performing his own work allowed Rodrigo a new and intense level of expression. But eventually composing was not enough. “A bigger dream arose in me that required many years of study and dedication: to be an orchestrator as well as a composer,” he shared in the same interview. This new dream gave him more textures, colors, stamps, and sounds to develop the melodies in his head.

The journey to classical music

Though he dabbled in jazz during his childhood, it was clear early on that classical music was his great love. Chopin's melodies had such resonance in him, and brought such an intellectual challenge, that, eventually, Rodrigo let go of other genres and dived deep into the classical music of the Romantic period. “It is fascinating to listen to the great works, and to see how each composer solved the "same" challenge, in a different way.”

Inspired by Rajmáninov, Williamsm and Morricone, Rodrigo continued his studies.  Conceptualizing, devising the characters and the story, and conveying the emotions is the fascinating process that goes into composing and creating what Rod regards as his films without image. Thirty years of dedication and interdisciplinary approach led Rod not only to become a pianist, film music composer, prolific author of multiple books, music theorist, educator, and engineer, and creator of The Piano Encyclopedia, a music academy and music book publisher describes by Forbes as a company revolutionizing the way people learn to play the piano around the world. He is now recognized as one of the world's top living composers.