Jack Delano (1914-1997) was born in a small town in Ukraine as Jacob Ovcharov. The family immigrated to America in 1923 and eventually settled in Philadelphia. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Delano’s life was his ability to excel in so many fields. He worked as a celebrated photographer, successful illustrator, filmmaker, and extraordinary composer. He studied music with his father, an amateur violinist, and at the Settlement Music School in South Philadelphia. After high school graduation he decided to pursue an arts degree at the Academy of Fine Arts.

Delano’s musical compositions included works of every type: orchestral (many composed for the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra), ballets (composed for Ballet Infantil de Gilda Navarra and Ballets de San Juan), chamber, choral (including Pétalo de rosa, a commission for Coro de Niños de San Juan) and solo vocal. His vocal music often showcases Puerto Rican poetry, especially the words of friend and collaborator Tomás Blanco. Blanco, Délano and his wife Irene collaborated on children’s books. The most prominent of these remains a classic in Puerto Rican literature: The Child’s Gift: A Twelfth Night Tale by Tomás Blanco, with illustrations by Irene Delano and incidental music (written on the margins) by Jack Delano.

His score for the film Desde las nubes demonstrates an early use of electronic techniques. Most of his works composed after he moved to Puerto Rico are notable for using folk material in a classical form