I'm a composer of contemporary chamber, orchestral and electronic music from Mexico City. I was born there in 1983, although I've lived in the United States and the Netherlands since 2000. I'm currently living in Chicago where I'm pursuing a Ph.D in Music Composition at the University of Chicago under Shulamit Ran.
One of my main interests is to work with ensembles that integrate instruments and performers from different parts of the world. Recently participated in the first two editions of the Atlas Academy held by the Atlas Ensemble in Amsterdam (www.atlasensemble.nl). During two weeks I was able to collaborate with wonderful performers, improvisers and composers from around the world to explore the possibilities of intercultural ensembles. By the end of the first academy I finished a piece for Ernest Rombout (Solo Oboe), 6 East Asian Instruments and Strings: "Prisma." "Prisma" has been selected as a finalist for the 2010 Gaudeamus Music Week Prize, which took place in Amsterdam last September.
Other examples of this kind of work include my piece "Solar", which I wrote in 2007 for the Nieuw Ensemble (www.nieuwensemble.nl) in Amsterdam. This work integrates 10 Western instrumentalists with 3 Non-Western ones (Sho - from Japan, Duduk - from Armenia, and Qanun - from Syria.) "Solar" has been performed numerous times by the Nieuw Ensemble and has also been selected as a a finalist for the 2008 Gaudeamus Music Week Prize. Other works for intercultural ensembles include a series of studies for the Atlas Ensemble and "Canon for Ziggurat" for Erhu (from China), Duduk, Viola da Gamba, and Contrabass.
I have also composed extensively for traditional classical music ensembles and orchestras. In 2008 I was invited to write a composition for the Orchestre National de Lorraine for the Acanthes festival in Metz, France (www.acanthes.com). My composition "XXX" for Orchestra is the result of this collaboration. "XXX" was selected among several excellent orchestral compositions to be played in the final concert of the Acanthes festival that year. It was also selected as a finalist for the 2010 Gaudeamus Music Prize, and was played there by the Holland Symfonia. In 2008 I was also asked to write a piece for the Asko Ensemble for the project 9x7 in the Netherlands. I wrote "Sub-Partiels" for this occasion, a work the explores the harmonic possibilities of sub-harmonic series (the inversion of the harmonic series.) I have also collaborated extensively with soloists such as Jason Alder (jasonalder.com), a bass clarinetist based in Amsterdam, for whom I wrote "Monologo Fantastico" a piece that requires a great deal of virtuosity on the instrument. In 2010 I finished a piece for Eight Blackbird (www.eighblackbird.com), "Nealika," which was inspired by Huichol Art.
I am currently working on a piece for the University of Chicago Computer Music Studio Concerts in February for trio and live electronics.
Other orchestras, ensembles and performers that have performed my music include Speculum Musicae, California Ear Unit, the Enso String Quartet, The Woodlands Symphony Orchestra, Brian Conelly, Jennifer Humphreys and Kate Christensen.
Finally, my mentors and teachers include Shulamit Ran, Theo Loevendie, Shih-Hui Chen, Kurt Stallman, Richard Ayres, Fabio Nieder, Howard Sandroff, Pierre Jalbert, Haruko Shimizu and Jose Tavarez (among others.)
