Juan Manuel Abras (*1975) is an Argentine composer and conductor of European descent, born in Stockholm (Sweden). Raised in Geneva (Switzerland) and Madrid (Spain), he began his formal studies of Piano and Violin at the ‘Carlos López Buchardo’ National Conservatoire of Music (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and continued them at the ‘Benedetto Marcello’ Conservatoire of Music (Venice, Italy), graduating from the Municipal Superior Conservatoire of Music San Sebastián (Spain). He then studied Composition (class of Roberto García Morillo) at the ‘Manuel de Falla’ Superior Conservatoire of Music (Buenos Aires), as well as Orchestra Conducting (area in which he later specialized with Guillermo Scarabino), graduating ‘cum laude’ in both disciplines. He then pursued Postgraduate studies in Composition (class of Kurt Schwertsik) and Orchestral Conducting (class of Leopold Hager) at the University (former Academy) of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Austria), as well as a Postgraduate Study in Composition (class of Krzysztof Penderecki) at the Academy of Music in Cracow (Poland).
He attended many masterclasses, courses and seminars in Composition (with Alexander Müllenbach, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Helmut Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm, etc.), Orchestral Conducting (with Dominique Fanal, Ervin Acél, Michael Gielen, etc.), Piano, Harpsichord, Musicology, Music Pedagogy, Marketing and Cultural Policies, and Music History, also earning a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in History (University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain / Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires, Argentina).
He received, among others, the following prizes, awards and scholarships: Gold Medal Award in Composition 2001 and Gold Medal Award in Orchestral Conducting 2001 (‘Manuel de Falla’ Superior Conservatoire of Music; Buenos Aires, Argentina), 2nd Prize - ‘Franz Josef Reinl’ Stiftung International Composition Competition 2002 (Vienna, Austria), ‘Mención TRIMARG 2002’ - Rostrum of Argentine Music and ‘Mención TRINAC 2002’ - National Rostrum of Composers (EIMC-ISCM-CAMU-IMC-UNESCO), ‘Theodor-Körner’ Promotion Prize for the Sciences and the Arts 2003 (Federal Chamber of Labour; Vienna, Austria), ‘In Memoriam Erich Kleiber’ Scholarship (Maximiliano Gregorio-Cernadas and Cecilia Scalisi; related to an internship with Michael Gielen at the Staatsoper (State Opera) Unter den Linden (Berlin, Germany), ‘Executive Board Scholarship’ of the National Fund of the Arts 2005 (Buenos Aires, Argentina).
Among other activities, between 1995 and 2004 he was appointed chief conductor, assistant conductor and artistic director of several Argentine orchestral organizations, actively participating in the dissemination of Argentine and Ibero American Music as composer, conductor, pianist and concert series organizer, also working as arranger, music copyist and engraver for several music institutions and publishing houses. In 2003 was invited as composer by the International Forum for Culture and Business Dresden (Germany) and, in 2006, to the XIII Laboratory of Contemporary Music (Warsaw, Poland), also receiving a commission from the Argentine Foundation in Poland and being selected as composer in residence by the Ensemble Aleph (France) for music sessions at the European Centre for the Arts ‘KunstForum Hellerau’ Dresden (Germany) within the frame of the 4th International Forum for Young Composers (Program ‘Culture 2000’ of the European Union). He is a member of the Argentine Composers Association - AAC (former National Music Society, founded in 1915) and of the Argentine Society of Authors and Composers (SADAIC).
His works have been programmed at the following Music Festivals and venues: International Gaudeamus Music Week (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Festival MANCA (Nice, France), Festival of Cracow Composers (Cracow, Poland), Time of Music Festival (Viitasaari, Finland), Festival Le printemps des poètes (Carcassonne, France); ‘Wiener Saal’ of the Mozarteum Salzburg (Austria), Théâtre Dunois (Paris, France), ‘Fanny-Hensel-Mendelssohn Saal’ of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Austria), Kulturrathaus (Dresden, Germany), Bimhuis - Muziekgebow aan ’t IJ (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), ‘Lerner Hall’ of the Columbia University (New York, USA), California State University (Northridge, USA), York University (Toronto, Canada), ‘Freiman-Pérez’ Hall of the University of Ottawa (Canada), ‘Paraninfo’ Hall of the University of Deusto (Bilbao, Spain), National Radio Auditorium (Buenos Aires, Argentina), ‘Salón Dorado’ of the Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), etc. |
Ensemble Pyxis
