About ME
I was born in Cali (Colombia) in August 1977.
I began my musical training at the age of twelve.
In 1995 I moved to Bogota, where I continued my studies and took my first composition lessons until 1998 at the Universidad Nacional with Blas E. Atehortua and Roberto Garcia. I took private composition and analysis lessons during relative short periods with Rodolfo Acosta between 1998 and 2001.
After a long time away from the academic life, I decided to undertake a trip to Switzerland where I studied composition at the Hochschule für Musik Basel with Detlev Mueller-Siemens (2001-04) and with Erik Oña (2004-07) at the Elektronisches Studio der Musik-Akademie Basel. Between October ’06 and July ’07 I attended the course “Digitale Klangsynthese und Klangbearbeitung†with Gerald Bennett at the ICST in Zurich. My education in Switzerland has been made possible thanks to the support of the Ruth & Hans Rapp Foundation and the Kiefer-Hablitzel Foundation.
I have taken part of several composition workshops in Colombia, Spain, Hungary and in Switzerland with internationally renowned composers such as Coriun Aharonian, Graciela Parakevaidis, Beat Furrer, Mauricio Sotelo, Michael Jarrell, Jonathan Harvey and Klaus Huber, among others.
My music has been played in several music events, workshops and festivals in Colombia (Festival Internacional de Musica Contemporanea de Bogota), Mexico (Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva Manuel Enriquez), Hungary (Bartok Seminar), Germany (next generation: Musik im Raum) and in Switzerland by renowned ensembles like Tambuco or Ensamble3 (Mexico), Ensemble Phoenix Basel and Sinfonieorchester Basel. A multimedia project [“Don Qvixote Readymadeâ€] based on some chapters of „Don Quijote de la Mancha“ - with guitarist and audio-designer José Navarro (Basel) took place in January 2008 with great acceptance.
In April 2008 I assisted one of the most interesting german composers of his generation, Jakob Ullmann, for his piece "PRAHA: maiselova-celetná-karlova" commissioned by the Deutschlandfunk for its music festival "Forum neuer Musik 2008 - Humanity and Composition".
My ACHIEVEMENTS
I won the National Prize for Composition in 1997, and an Artistic Residency in 2000 (composer-in-residence/Mexico) given by the Colombian Ministry of Culture. I have won twice (1996 and 2000) the second Prize for Composition given by the Cultural Institute of Bogota IDCT - now known as SCRD-. I won the "Werkjahr" 2007, a Prize for composition given by the Marianne and Curt Dienemann Foundation from Lucerne, and the "Werkjahr" 2008, a Prize for a composition project by the Christoph Delz Foundation Basel.
List of WORKS
Chamber music without electronics
Un piano para Luciano (2008)
solo piano
En agua nueva (2003-04)
string trio, harp and perc.
Esther se llamaba (2003)
vln. and vlc.
Un camino es un camino (2002-03)
fl. (also alto fl.), cl. (also bass cl.) and piano
Fabula Ib (2001)
alto fl.
Figuras (2000-01)
percussion quartet
Blanco (1999-2000)
8 instrumentalists
In questo modo: (II) (1998-99)
wind quintet
Casual symmetry? (1998)
mezzosopran, fl. (also alto and bass flutes), vla. and perc.
Five variations on a simple melody (1996)
alto fl., piano, perc. and vlc.
Chamber music with electronics
Convulsión (2008) -in progress-
for oboe (also english-horn), clarinet in Eb (also bassclarinet in B),
trombone, trio basso (vla., vlc., db.) and tape (4 ch)
Air (2007-08)
for countertenor, guitar, doublebass and live electronics
I scarcely breathed (2006)
for mezzosopran, live electronics and video-projection
Canto lejano (2004-05)
for ensemble and electronics
Pequeño Requiem (1997)
for ensemble and live electronics
Electronics
Weder … noch (2007)
for tape (Ambisonics in 3rd Order)
Premiere – „Kubus“ at ZKM, Karlsruhe (DE)
Poe Sketches (2005-06)
for tape (8 ch)
Orchestra
Ingravidez (2006-07)
New piece in four movements (last one with electronics) -in progress- sponsored by the Christoph Delz Foundation Basel.