Alberto Ginastera is considered one of the most important 20th-century composers to have emerged from the Americas. Ginastera was born in Buenos Aires in 1916 to a Catalan father and an Italian mother, and studied at his home city’s Williams Conservatory, graduating in 1938. He visited the United States between 1945 and 1947, where he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood, before returning to Buenos Aires. He held a number of teaching posts throughout his career, and taught notable composers such as Ástor Piazzolla, Alcides Lanza, Jorge Antunes, Waldo de los Ríos, Jacqueline Nova and Rafael Aponte-Ledée. He moved back to the US in 1968, and in 1970 moved to Europe. He died in Geneva in 1983 at the age of 67.