Javier Torres Maldonado

Javier Torres Maldonado (born 1968) Mexican composer of mostly orchestral, chamber, vocal and electro-acoustic works.

Biography

Born in Chetumal (Mexico), Javier Torres Maldonado studies violin and composition at the Conservatoire of Mexico City and later, invited by Franco Donatoni, composition at the “G. Verdi” Conservatoire of Milan, under the supervision of Sandro Gorli and Alessandro Solbiati; he completes his postgraduate studies under Franco Donatoni, Azio Corghi (Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Accademia Chigiana) and Ivan Fedele (Conservatoire of Strasbourg). In 2003, he earned a diploma from the G. Verdi Conservatory for his work in electronic music, and in 2004 he was one of ten composers asked to participate in the "Stage de Composition et Informatique Musicale" at the Parisian center IRCAM.

In most of his works, Torres Maldonado explores innovative ways of organizing time, timbre and space. For example, in his piece for ensemble and electro-acoustic support, De Ignoto Cantu (2004), the composer presents several melody lines which, despite their complexity, actually derive from a single simple source consisting in a few number of elements; each line contains a considerable degree of horizontal-spectral consonance, but the vertical intervals and the variety of rhythmic accents in each line create a tough dissonance, both in harmony and rhythm, it is: he uses harmonic fields associated to layered pulsation patterns and metric modulation to create a sonic analog to the distorting process of reflection, “almost like a rotating lens through which the view goes in and out of focus”.

According to the composer, the triptych works Figuralmusik (1996-1998) "originates from the fascination that I have always felt for perceptive illusions, translated into impossible objects in physical reality, and, above all, for the results of the interlacing planes and perspectives used by Piranesi and Escher". Again contracting, expanding, intersecting and re-elaborating a limited number of fundamental musical figures, he expands the perception of musical objects through rapid or very slow juxtapositions of different temporal fluctuations.

At times, Torres Maldonado exploit these complex compositional techniques to propose to the listener an openly social or political message; it is the case of one of his best known pieces, Exabrupto (1998), in which he uses complicated transitions in time and space, sudden breaks in the form and polymeters in a tribute to the memory of Mexican indians who were killed in 1998 in Acteal, Chiapas.

Torres Maldonado has received an international array of honors including the Commande d'Etat by the French Ministry of Culture (2007), the international composition prize of the GRAME (Centre National de Création Musicale) of Lyon (2006), the “Reine Elisabeth” of Brussels (2004), “Alfredo Casella” of Siena (2002), “Reine Maria Jose" of Geneva (2000), “Ad Referendum II” of Montreal (1998), "Città di Barletta" (Italy), the “Prix des Musiciens” (1998) by the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the “Medalla Mozart” from the Austrian and Mexican governments, and he also won the second prize in two successive “Mozart” Competitions in Salzburg (1999 and 2001).

He has been commissioned by internationally renowned festivals, institutions, soloists, ensembles and orchestras around the world, among which: the Mozart Week (Salzburg), Biennale of Venice, Festival Musica (Strasbourg), Biennale Musiques en Scène (Lyon), Settimana Musicale Senese, Gaudeamus Music Week (Amsterdam), Milano Musica Festival, Focus! Festival (New York), Akiyoshidai Music Festival (Japan), Tiroler Festspiele Erl (Austria), CDMC of Madrid, Festivals of Sueca and Alicante (Spain), Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico); and his compositions are performed, among others, by Armand Angster, Mario Caroli, Carlo Chiarappa, Pascal Contet, Pablo Marquez, Vittorio Ceccanti, Ensemble Aleph, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Divertimento Ensemble, Ensemble Risognanze, National Orchestra of Belgium, La Fenice Opera Theater Symphony Orchestra of Venice, Symphony Orchestra of Bilbao, Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano, Orchestra Regionale Toscana. As conductor and artistic director of the the Dynamis Ensemble he had programmed and premiered most contemporary music works of young composers in different festivals in both sides of the Atlantic.

Resident in Italy from 1996, since 2003 he became professor (full time) in electro-acoustic composition, composition assisted by computer and composition techniques on the XXth Century at the Conservatoire “A. Vivaldi” of Alessandria, Italy. He has taught composition, composition assisted by computer, sound modelling lecturing at Trento-Riva del Garda and Monopoli Conservatoires (Italy), the Conservatoires of Lugano and Lausanne (Switzerland), and in Mexico and Spain.

Discography

• Amberola Records (AMBC CD 7141 33719) Exabruto, for 3 instrumental groups, 1 pianist and 1 percussionist. Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, cond. by Lorraine Vaillancourt.
• Stradivarius (STR 33719) Exabrupto, for 3 instrumental groups, 1 pianist and 1 percussionist. Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, cond. by Lorraine Vaillancourt.
• Stradivarius (STR 33719) Tiento, for violoncello and electronics version. Andrea Cavuoto, violoncello.
• Stradivarius (STR 33719) The unexpected clock in the mirrors, for violin, bass-clarinet and ensemble. Carlo Chiarappa, violin, Armand Angster, bass-clarinet, Dynamis Ensemble, cond. Javier Torres Maldonado.
• Stradivarius (STR 33719) Orior, for piano solo. Candida Felici, piano.
• Stradivarius (STR 33719) De ignoto cantu, for bass-clarinet, trumpet, percussion, violin, violoncello and electronics. Dynamis Ensemble, cond. Javier Torres Maldonado.
• Stradivarius (STR 33719) Luz, for accordion and string quartet. Germano Scurti, accordion, Terpsycordes String Quartet.
• Ambroisie (AMB 9987) Obscuro etiantum lumine, for violin and three orchestral groups. Mikhail Ovrutsky, violin, National Symphony Orchestra of Belgium, cond. Giles Varga.