Invisibili, for 4 groups in one invisible space, one semi-invisible.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1989, Barcelona, Alberto Arroyo began his musical studies at Conservatorio Joaquin Turina in Madrid. Soon he entered a higher level class of harmony and analysis which awakened his interest in composition. In 2007 he traveled to Boston to begin lessons in orchestration, counterpoint and 20th century harmony from Alla Elana Cohen, professor at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory. That same year he was awarded the 2nd prize of the Hazen Piano Competition. In 2009 he returned to Boston to continue his classes with Alla Cohen, who ultimately invited him to apply to Berklee. Meanwhile he is a member of the UAM Choir (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) and teaching assistant for the course Composition (Villafranca) and Film Scoring (Micipeg, Úbeda, SGAE). In 2010 he begins his studies at Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón under supervision from José M. Sánchez-Verdú, Agustín Charles, Hèctor Parra, José M. López-López, Nacho de Paz, Josep Sanz and Arnau Bataller. Since then, he has taken lessons and masterclasses from Salvatore Sciarrino, Toshio Hosokawa, Mark André, Sofia Gubaidulina, Enrique Mendoza, Philippe Hurel, Fabian Panisello, Ivan Fedele, Alberto Posadas, Ramon Lazkano, Cristobal Halffter, Alberto Rosado, Jesús Rueda, Trío Arbós, Tasto Solo, Rinaldo Alessandrini.
In 2011 he was among the compeittors in the final round of the Premio Fundación Autor-CNDM, becoming the award’s youngest finalist and making his recording of his work Criba de Valores. In 2012 he was given a scholarship by the Mozarteum to assist the Sommerakademie with Pascal Dusapin.
For 3 years he assisted at the SIMMAA (Seminario Internacional de Música Antigua de Albarracín), where he took advanced studies in Ars Subtilior, and historical aspects from the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque period. In 2013 he studied at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden, under Manos Tsangaris. There he had the opportunity to work and focus his work in musical theater, and he was invited for a second time to Dresden to work in the Briefmarkenoper, conceptual opera which integrates theater and music, and where he premiered his work Der Mann der Fragen, for speaker, choir, ensemble and audience.
Also in 2013 he reached the finals of the Convocatoria Jóvenes Compositores Trío de Magia and is selected as young composer for the Taller de Composición y Experimentación Sonora 2014 – Mixtur in Barcelona. Simultaneously he presented a collaboration with the sculptor Leandro Alonso called Invisibles. Also, with his piece Laberintos sutiles the Trio Sostenuto is awarded the second prize of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschulewettweberb 2014 in Berlin.
His work has been widely played, in Berlin, Salzburg, Dresden, Madrid, Barcelona and Saragossa, by ensembles such as Smash Ensemble, OCAZ Grupo Enigma, Taller Sonoro, Academia para la Nueva Música, Trío de Magia and Trio Sostenuto.
INTERVIEW
What is your earliest musical memory that, in looking back, has proved to be significant regarding your career as a composer?
Probably listening to the first two recordings I had at home when I was young: Carmina Burana by Carl Orff and the Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven. The orchestral color, textures, atmospheres, extreme intensity and emotion created within me a desire to create a full-color-world inside of our minds where to live.
If relevant, which composer(s) have been the most influential regarding your own work?
Monteverdi and Bach are for me essential. But I also have been especially drawn those composers who have a special talent for creating color with the orchestra, e.g. Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Bartók, Messiaen, Ligeti, and Sciarrino. However, besides their masterful handling of orchestral color, it is also what they have achieved beyond the sound, producing the quality of the entire result.
Can you describe your working process, i.e. do you use computer notation software, if so, do you find that it inhibits your process at all, do you have a regular schedule for writing?
Recently I am working by hand; my music nowadays is often a new code in terms of symbols, graphics, etc. and writing by hand I can control the result and the score. Software doesn´t limit me, I try to work in the balance of intuition and control of the material, time, processes…
Musica Kaleidoskopea 