ANTONIO JUAN-MARCOS

Antonio Juan-Marcos has recently been awarded with the Gold Medal-Best of Show honors at the Global Music Awards for his piece “Nocturno Eléctrico’’; he also received the prestigious “Eisner Prize for the Highest Achievement in the Creative Arts” on behalf of the University of California Berkeley for the ensemble of his recent compositions, as well as the first place in the composition competition “Nicola De Lorenzo Prize in Music Composition’’ granted by the Department of Music at UC Berkeley.

Important recent world premieres include: “Amanece’’- for countertenor and orchestra (2014) written as a celebration of the birth centenary of the literature Nobel Prize winner, Octavio Paz, as well as “Nocturno Eléctrico’’- for electric guitar and orchestra (2015). It is worth noting that Alejandro Marcovich (guitarist, founder of the famous Latin American rock group “Caifanes”) was the soloist for “Nocturno Eléctrico’’. Both pieces were commissioned by The Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra. “Amanece’’ will receive its American premiere in December 2016 by the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, in a program next to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Mr. Juan-Marcos is currently composing a song cycle for the internationally known ensemble “Les Folies Françoises’’ in which he musicalizes four sonnets attributed to Antonio Vivaldi. These sonnets were written in correlation with the violin concerti “The Four Seasons’’. Antonio Juan-Marcos is the third composer to receive a commission from the “Les Folies Françoises’’. The first two composers to appear in this select catalog where Kaija Saariaho (2009) and Thierry Pécou (2013). Antonio has also received a commission from the “Festival Internacional Cervantino” to compose a monodrama for voice, video and ensemble inspired by the short story “Macario” by Juan Rulfo, one of Latin America’s most prominent writers and a fundamental source of the literary movement known as “Magical Realism”. This piece will be premiered by the “Ensemble 2e2m” in October 2017. Additional commissions include new orchestral music for some of the most important Mexican national orchestras.

His pieces have been presented in the United States, France, Belgium, Spain and his native Mexico, under the direction of José Areán, David Milnes, Zsolt Nagy, Kanako Abe, Jean-Philippe Wurtz, Laurent Cuniot and Pierre Roullier. Antonio’s works are included in the repertoires of prestigious ensembles and orchestras such as the “Orchestre National de Lorraine’’, Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, “Ensemble InterContemporain”, “Eco Ensemble,” “L’Instant Donné”, “L’Ensemble Multilatérale’’, amongst others. His piece for cello and electronics ‘’El Afilador’’ was recorded by the cellist Marie Ythier for Evidence Classics records (distributed by Harmonia Mundi).

Antonio has been selected to participate in important festivals and academies such as: Acanthes (France)- where he studied with Salvatore Sciarrino, Musicalta (France), and the “Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Córdoba” (Spain) – where he studied guitar and composition with Leo Brouwer.

Born in Mexico City, Antonio Juan-Marcos began his musical training studying classical guitar; he later studied composition, piano and guitar at the Boston Conservatory. In 2003 he continued his bachelor’s and master’s degree at the “Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse de Paris’’, where he graduated with honors with the piece “Arder Aprender.” From 2012 to 2013 he participated in the Electroacoustic Composition Course at the “Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique / Musique’’ (IRCAM). He has studied with some of the most renowned composers such as Kaija Saariaho, O. Golijov, Stefano Gervasoni, Narcís Bonet, Allain Gaussin, Philippe Leroux and Franck Bedrossian.

Antonio is currently pursuing a doctorate degree in Musical Composition at UC Berkeley, where he also works as a pro- fessor of harmony.

Site : http://www.antoniocomposer.com