BIOGRAPHY
Born in Malaga and initially educated in Spain, receiving four B.A. degrees from the Conservatory of Malaga in Piano, Music Composition, Music Accompaniment, Music Theory, and a Diploma in Violin. Postgraduate studies in music composition pursued in the U.S.A. at Carnegie-Mellon University (MM), in the U.K. at the University of Cambridge (MPhil), and a PhD in Spain at the University of Malaga. Main mentors have been composers Judith Weir, Jeremy Thurlow, Leonardo Balada, Román Alís, and pianists Stephanie Cambier and Ramón Coll.
Laureated as “one of Spain’s finest young composer” by Northamerican music journal Soundboard, and “as an author who knows how to say whatever he wants while touching the audience” by Spanish newspaper El Mundo (Tomás Marco). Compositions have been performed in different international venues such as Radiofabrik (Salzburg, Austria), National Spanish Radio (RNE2), Bethanienklooster (Amsterdam), Carnegie Music Hall & Kresge Recital Hall of Pittsburgh (USA), Bloomington Center for the Arts (USA), Kettle's Yard (U.K.), Millenium-Hall in Tokyo (Japan), Denki-Bunka-Kaikan in Nagoya (Japan), National Music Auditorium and Monumental Hall in Madrid (Spain), XXV International Music Festival in Ripoll (Catalonia), International Guitar Festival in Cordoba (Spain), Cervantes Theatre and Canovas Theatre in Malaga (Spain), I Ronda Music Festival (Spain), XX International Music Festival of Ubeda (Spain), etc. by orchestras such as the National Spanish Radio & Television Philharmonic Orchestra (ORTVE), Camerata de Madrid, Mellon Philharmonic, Malaga Philharmonic, and many other varied groups and players, under conductors such as Aldo Ceccato, Adrian Leaper, Michael Thomas, Pascual Osa, Walter Morales, etc. Compositions have been released by NAXOS and Albert Moraleda Records, and are available from publishers Grupo Editorial Universitario, Junta de Andalucia, and Guitar Foundation of America (Contemporary Music Series).
Honored with grants from Andrew Carnegie Society (USA), Association pour la Création et la Diffusion Artistique (ACDA, France), Cambridge European Trusts (University of Cambridge, UK), Chancellor Fellowship Award from the City University of New York (USA), and Sociedad General de Autores de España (SGAE, Spain). Awards received from Fundación Autor and the Council of Malaga. Awarded first prize of the Harry G. Archer Memorial Prize for orchestral pieces in the 2005 edition. Finalist in the Morton Gould Young Composers Award. Commissioned by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Council of Jaen of the obligatory piece for the 51st International "Jaen" Piano competition. Invited to participate with a piece as a present given to composer Henry Dutilleux in his homage celebrated in England, organized by BBC.
As an active scholar, main interests are how contemporary music is transmitted and perceived (from the fields of musicology, psychology and music education), how music could be used in therapeutic procedures and how Flamenco (the traditional music of Andalusia) is characterized. Research outputs have received dissemination through more than twenty articles published in music journals indexed in international databases such as RILM, ERIC or Thomson & Reuters’ ISI-JCR, through two book chapters and the edition of a book. Research projects were led as Principal Investigator of the research team named Musithema, a group which was able to attract funds for researching from the Spanish Ministry of Education, gathering professors from different universities in Spain. Positions of management and organization include head of music education for five years and member of the faculty and university governing board for four years at the University of Malaga. Supervision of PhD students led to the successful reading of five doctoral dissertations.
Currently holds the position of Professor at the University of Malaga. Held positions as Teaching Assistant in the Department of Theory & Composition at Carnegie-Mellon University, Erasmus Visiting Lecturer at the University of Cardiff (UK), Professor of Piano at various Conservatories in Spain, director of the Spanish music journal Filomusica and holds membership of Robinson College at the University of Cambridge (UK).