Julio Estrada

Julio Estrada was born in Mexico City on April 10, 1943. His family had been exiled
from Spain in 1941. His activities are multiple: composer, theoretician, historian,
pedagogue, and interpreter.

He began his musical studies in Mexico [1953-65], where he studied composition with
Julián Orbón. In Paris (1965-69) he studied with Nadia Boulanger, Messiaen and
attended courses and lectures of Xenakis. In Germany he studied with Stockhausen
[1968] and with Ligeti [1972] He did a Ph. D. in Musicology at Strasbourg University
(1990- 1994).

Since 1974 he has been a researcher in music at the Instituto de Estéticas, IIE/UNAM,
where he was appointed as the Chair of a project on Mexican Music History and as the
head of MúSIIC, Música, Sistema Interactivo de Investigación y Composición, a musical
system designed by himself. He is he first music scholar to be honored as member of the
Science Academy of Mexico and by the Mexican Education Ministry as National
Researcher [since 1984]. He created a Composition Seminar at UNAM, where he has
been teaching Compositional Theory and Philosophy of Composition.

Estrada has written about a hundred of articles based on his research. Some have been
translated into English, French, German, Italian and Japanese. He is the General Editor of
the must complete publication on Mexican music history, La Música de México [Instituto
de Investigaciones Estéticas, IIE / UNAM, México 1984, ca. 2000 p.] He wrote with
Jorge Gil Musica y Teoria de Grupos Finitos, 3 Variables Booleanas, with an English
abstract [IIE UNAM, Mexico 1984]. He has postulated a General Theory of Intervallic
Classes, applicable to macro and microintervallic scales of duration and of pitch. In the
field of the continuum Estrada has developed new methods of multidimensional graphic
description of several parameters of sound or rhythm. His research on the continuum field
was published in 1998 in France : Ouvrir l’horizon du son : le continuum.

He has been a visiting professor at Stanford, California, San Diego, New Mexico,
Musikwissenschaft Institut, Rostock and at Darmstadt

His music is associated to compositional research on diverse domains; i.e.: scales, Suite,
piano [1960]; improvisational processes: Persona, vocal trio [1969]; compositional
mechanos, Memorias for a Keyboard [1971]; finite groups, Melódica, [1973], Canto
mnémico [1973-83]; networks, Canto tejido, piano [1974], Canto alterno, cello [1978],
Ensemble’yuunohui, strings [1983-90]; intervallic identities, Canto naciente, brass octet
(1975-78]; continuum macro-timbre and sound spacialisation, eolo’oolin, six
percussionists [1981-90]; new instrumental developments, Canto oculto, violin [1977] ;
the four yuunohui ; continuum, eua’on ; multiparametric poliphony, the yuunohui (1983-
90); topological continuum variations, ishini’ioni, string quartet [1984-90]; continuum-
discontinuum modulation, yuunohui’tlapoa, harpsichord [1994-97]; Prehispanic
ceremonial conception of music, opera Pedro Páramo : “Doloritas” (1992)

His works are mainly published by Editions Salabert, France. The French Ministry of
Culture decorated him with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1981, 1986).

“The techniques and theories I have developed are based on mathematics and acoustics;
the more neutral they remain, the better they serve the description of the imaginary: it is
my ear—there everything is allowed—that gives birth to my music, which becomes the
accurate, almost phonographic representation, of every detail coming from my inner
hearing experiences.”

http://www.julioestrada.net
Germán Romero

Germán Romero was born in Mérida, Yucatán, in 1966. He graduated with honorable
mention from the Escuela Nacional de Musica at UNAM in Mexico, studying
composition with Julio Estrada. He has studied composition with Arturo Márquez
(1988), analysis with Mario Lavista at the Conservatorio Nacional (1985-87) and guitar
with Federico Bañuelos (1987-89). He was a student at the Taller Nacional de
Composición at CENIDIM, studying with Julio Estrada, Federico Ibarra, Mario Lavista,
and Daniel Catán. In 1992 and 1998, Romero participated in the guitar workshop at
Darmstadt. He was a guest resident faculty at Les Ateliers UPIC in France (1994) and in
the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada (2005), the latter with a grant from the Fondo
Nacional para la Cultura y las Arte. He has had classes with Aurelio León, Aldo Brizzi,
Baltazar Benítez, Jörg Herchet, Didier Rocton, Gérard Grisey, Tony Arnold and Helmut
Lachenmann, among others.

Romero has received grants and support from FONCA (Jóvenes Creadores, 1996-97 and
2000), from the Coordinación Nacional de Descentralización Zona Sur (1998), from
FENCA de Yucatán (Creadores con Trayectoria, 1999), and from CONACULTA-INBA
(Educación por el Arte, 2002).

Romero’s Cuarteto de Cuerdas No 3 was selected by the Arditti Quartet to be studied in

the Composition and Interpretation Workshop (1999). This work also received honorable
mention in the Primer Concurso Nacional de Composición Silvestre Revueltas (2000)
and was one of 10 works selected in the 47th International Rostrum of Composers (2000)
for their International radio broadcast. In 2000, together with the Yucatan State
Government, he produced a CD titled “El Principio.” In 2002, the Radar Festival
commissioned “Ramas,” for solo violin, which was premiered and recorded by Irvine
Arditti (Mode Records 165CD). His works have been performed by the Ensamble de las
Rosas, the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, the
Orquesta Sinfónica “Carlos Chavez,” the Orquesta Sinfónica de Aguascalientes, the
Arditti Quartet, the Sinfonietta de Morelia, Tambuco, Pablo Gómez, Lourdes Ambriz,
Lidia Tamayo, Tony Arnold, Michael Veit, and Mary Hurlburt, among others; in festivals
like the Internationales Ferienkurse in Darmstadt (Germany), the Foro Internacional de
Música Nueva “Manuel Enríquez,” the Festival Internacional de música de Morelia, the
Festival Internacional de Música Contemporánea de Michoacán, the American Festival of
Microtonal Music (New York), the Encuentro Latinoamericano de Arpa (Venezuela), the
Chicago ICEFest, the Otoño Cultural de Yucatán, Radar Festival, and the Festival
Cervantino.

Romero was a founder of the Festival Internacional de Música de Michoacán and was the
artistic director of its first three seasons.

Along with his composition career, Germán Romero is dedicated to research and teaching
in ear training, a subject that he has taught in diverse higher education settings in Mexico
since 1989, such as the Escuela de Perfeccionamiento “Vida y Movimiento”, the Centro
Cultural “Ollín Yoliztli,” and the Escuela de Musica Coral de Yucatán. He has lectured
and participated in conferences and events regarding ear training such as the Jornadas
Académicas sobre la Enseñanza Profesional de la Música (Conservatorio Nacional de
Música), the Encuentro Internacional de Educación Musical Monterrey 2003 and 2005,
the Programa de Formación en Docencia de la Educación Musical (CENART-IVEC), and
the Segundo Foro Latinoamericano de Educación Musical (Mexico). He taught an ear
training course at the Escuela Superior de Música de Cataluña. He is the author of
Formar el oído, metodología y ejercicios (Conservatorio de las Rosas, 2005), written
through an arts education grant from the Centro Nacional de las Artes.

Since 1998, Romero has been a professor of composition and analysis and head of the
Ear Training division at the Conservatorio de las Rosas, in Morelia, Michoacán, and was
dean of the conservatory from 2004 to 2007.
Ignacio Baca-Lobera

Ignacio Baca-Lobera was born in Mexico City in June 28,1957. He started his musical
interests as a self-taught musician. Later, he studied composition with Julio Estrada in
Mexico, and recently with Joji Yuasa, Jean-Charles François and Brian Ferneyhough in
the United States. He holds Ph. D. and Master degrees in composition from the
University of California at San Diego. He also has taken summer courses at IRCAM
(1992) and Darmstadt (1990 and 1992).

His chamber and orchestral music explore techniques such as random processes,
microtonalism, Network Theory and graphic approaches to composition. His music has
received several awards: honorable mentions at Jose Pablo Moncayo contest for orchestra
(1982) and Lan Adomian contest for chamber music (1980), both in Mexico; finalist at
New Music Today (1988) in Japan; and Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at Darmstadt,
Germany in 1992 for Trios (y dobles). For the year 1992-93 Ignacio Baca-Lobera was
awarded an artist's salary from the "Fondo Nacional para las Artes," Mexico. In 1996 he
won the first place of the 17th Irino Prize for orchestral music in Tokyo. Since April of
1997 he is a member of the "Sistema Nacional de Creadores" of Mexico. In June of 2001
he was appointed fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation for one year.

Ignacio Baca-Lobera's music has been performed in several festivals: Xenakis Festival
(1988, San Diego); ISCM (1991, Zürich, 1993, Mexico and 1999, Rumania); Darmstadt
(1990, 1992, 1994 and 2004); From June of 1994 through 1995 he was the composer in
residence of the Queretaro Philharmonic; Guest Composer at the 1994 Ferienkurse in
Darmstadt, Germany; Foro de Musica Nueva (1995, 1997, 1998-2007, Mexico); Festival
Cervantino (1994, 2005-2007 Mexico), Foro de Compositores del caribe (2000 and
2002), El Callejon del Ruido (Mexico, 1996 and 1997), Musik im Schömer-Haus (1998,
Austria); Primavera en la Habana (2002, Cuba); Festival Radar (Mexico City, 2004, 2005
, 2006); Bludenzer Tage Zeitgemäber Musik (2004, Austria) and 2o Festival
Internacional de Michoacan 2005-2007. He was composer in residence at the Aveiro
University in Portugal in 2008.

In addition, he has received commissions from: John Fonville; Steve Elster; Filarmonica
de Queretaro; Festival Cervantino; Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico; Jörg
Vogel; Magnus Andersson, Son Ensemble, Pablo Gomez, Camerata de la Filarmonica de
Queretaro, Ensamble 3, Fernando Dominguez, Harry Sparnaay, Ensamble Onix, Marcel
Worms, Frankling Cox, Frank Uuldriks, Tjeerd Oostendorp, Tokyo Philharmonic,
Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes and Instituto Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes de
Queretaro.

He currently lives in Queretaro, Mexico where he is a full time professor at the

Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro.

http://ibacalobera.com/
Víctor Adán

I have been interested in music, visual arts, and computer programming since childhood.
My first musical experiments took place during the late 1980s, when my parents acquired
two new pieces of furniture for our home: an upright piano and a personal computer.
Both machines fascinated me, and I spent many hours pressing the keys of these two
wondrous devices. Each taught me a different language, the one music notation, the other
BASIC. Both machines served me well as musical instruments. The one gave me sound
just by pressing its keys, the other by typing lines of code with the BEEP and PLAY
commands.
Then I went to music school, where I was quickly taught what music really was, and
where I soon forgot all about my silly experiments. After a few disappointing first years
in college, I discovered the uncompromising music of composer Julio Estrada and, in
1997 I decided to become his student at the Universidad Nacional Autûnoma de Mèxico.
Upon completing my undergraduate studies, I shifted focus to the scientific side of my
musical interests. In 2005 I earned an MS in media technology and digital
communications from MIT, working with Barry Vercoe on such things as music structure
modeling, automation and classification.
I am currently pursuing a DMA in Composition at Columbia University in New York
City. I typically spend my days composing, writing computer code, reading and, in my
spare time, teaching robots how to draw. Sometimes I eat as well.
Juán José Barcenas

Juán José Bárcenas was born in 1982. He has a Bachelor's degree in music from the
Mexican National Institute for Fine Arts. In 1992 he began his composition studies, his
teachers were: Felipe de las Casas, Mauricio Beltran and Ignacio Baca-Lobera.
Since 2001 he has been working as composer, performer, and sound-visual artist. He has
received scholarships, mentions and performances from: The Mexican National Fund for
Culture and the Arts (FONCA) 2005, The Young Creators Scholarships (FOECA) 2004,
Seoul Computer Music Festival 2005 and, New Music International Forum " Manuel
Enriquez 2005 & 2007", Premio Estatal de la Juventud Querétaro 2005, National
Composition Prize, Morelia 2005 & 2007, Festival International Cervantino, Festival
International Santiago de Queretaro.
He has been a member of the Electro-acoustic experimental ensemble: "COLECTIVO
KAOSS" since 2004, also working as a professor at the Center For Artistic Education
(CEDART) in Santiago de Querétaro (México) since 2005, teaching Analysis,
Composition, Harmony and Ear Training. His music has been performed in: Belgium,
Korea, France, Germany, Malaysia, México, Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom
and USA.

http://www.juanjosebarcenas.com
Edgar Guzmán

Edgar Guzmán was born in Querétaro, México in 1981. Currently, he’s studying
composition with Ignacio Baca Lobera at the School for the Arts at the Universidad
Autónoma de Querétaro.
Both in 2002 and 2004, the Council of Arts of Querétaro awarded him the Young
Creators Scholarship. In 2003 the National System for Music Promotion commissioned
Edgar to write an orchestral work to be performed by the Youth Symphony Orchestra of
México. The 31st International Competition of Electroacoustic Music and Sonic Art
Bourges 2004 chose him for a residence in 2005, fulfilled at the LIPM of Buenos Aires.
He’s member of the Projet-Itinerant, an international group of young artists who’s wish it
is to create a link between several countries’ new artistic production. In 2006, he was
awarded the Council of Arts of Guanajuato’s Young Composers Strengthening Program,
and he was awarded the National Young Creators Scholarship by the National Council of
Arts in Mexico.
He has participated in new music festivals such as the Manuel Enriquez
International New Music Forum, Monterrey’s New Music Festival, Lab33 Project,
Festival Radar (Mexico), the Polyphonic Voices Chicago ICE Fest 2004, V BIMESP
International Electroacoustic Biennale in São Paulo Brazil, 30th Festival Neue Musik in
Lüneburg, Festival Synthese 2005 in Bourges, Projet Itinerant in Buenos Aires, and the
Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico, among others.
José Luís Hurtado

José-Luis Hurtado's music has been performed in Asia, Europe, North and Latin America
by ensembles such as The Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Interensemble, Pierrot
Lunaire Ensemble Wien and The Arditti Quartet among many others.
He has been the recipient of Kompositionspreis der Stadt Wolkersdorf (Austria), The
Harvard University Green Prize for Excellence in Composition (USA), The Julián
Carrillo Composition Prize (Mexico), and 2nd prize in the Troisieme Concours
International de composition du Quatuor Molinari (Canada).

Hurtado is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University where he has studied under
Davidovsky, Birtwistle, Czernowin, Lindberg, Ferneyhough and Lachenmann.

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~hurtado/Welcome.html
Víctor Ibarra

Víctor Ibarra was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México. He studied the license in flute in
the National School of Music at the National University of Mexico with Rubén Islas; he
also studied composition at the “Studio of Polyphonic Resources” with Humberto
Hernández Medrano, and later with José Luis Castillo and Hebert Vázquez.
He has taken many master classes, composition courses and seminaries with central
personalities, such as: Theo Lovendie, Helmut Lachenmann, Mario Lavista, Carlos
Sánchez, Ricardo Zohn, Ignacio Baca-Lobera, Georgina Derbéz, Martín Matalón, and
Kaija Saariaho.
His work has obtained many distinctions and recognitions; his music has been played in
important forums such as Manuel Enríquez International Forum of New Music in
México, the “Festival Internacional Cervantino”, the International Composition Festival
in Morelia, the “Aspekte” Festival in Salzburg, the INJUVE composition festival in 2006
in Spain, he was winner of the national composition contest in 2007 in the “Forum de las
Culturas” and in the “Musikfabrik” international composition contest in 2008.
His music has been played by important groups of chamber music and contemporary
ensembles like: Ensamble tres, Ossia ensemble, Aspekte festival quartet, International
Contemporary Ensemble, Grup Instrumental de Valencia, Arditti String Quartet and the
Ensemble InterContemporain, quoting some groups.
Víctor Ibarra has won scholarships for developing his work, such as the Creation Foment
and Artistic Development Supports (2000,2003,2005), scholarships for the Young
Creators (2000), Composition Program for Young Creators (2005-2006), and the Young
Creators Program of the National Found for the Culture and the Arts (CONACULTA)
Currently he is working towards a “Diplôme Superieure de Compostion” at the Normal
School of Music in Paris with Edith Lejet and, with Jean-Luc Hervé at the National
Conservatory of Boulogne.
Marisol Jiménez

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1978, her output includes a variety of

chamber and electroacoustic works as well as projects in collaboration with
visual and installation artists. She began her musical studies by studying
piano at an early age, and later at the School of Music of the University of
Guadalajara. In May of 2003, she completed her bachelor’s degree in music
composition at the University of Oregon where she composed a number of
chamber works, and also began working with electronic media. In the fall of
2005, she completed a master’s degree at Mills College. She currently is
working towards a doctoral degree in composition at Stanford University,
where she studies with Brian Ferneyhough, Mark Applebaum and Erik
Ulman. Her music has been performed in concerts and music festivals in
Mexico, U.S.A. and Europe by groups including the Arditti String quartet,
the ensemble recherche, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Surplus,
Octandre and SFSound.
Sandra Lemus

Sandra Lemus, born in Morelia, Michoacán in 1982, studied music at the Conservatory of
the Roses in her native city under the tutelage of Germán Romero. She has taken special
courses with Helmut Lachenmann, Tristan Murail, Javier Álvarez, Teodoro Anzellotti,
Ignacio Baca Lobera, Hebert Vázquez, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, José Luis Castillo and
Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez, among others. Her works have been performed by the
chamber groups Ossia (USA), L’instant donné (France), the Ensamble de las Rosas
(Mexico), the Camerata de las Américas (Mexico) and the Ensamble 3 (Mexico).
Currently, she has a scholarship from the National Fund for Culture and Arts (FONCA).
Iván Naranjo

Iván Naranjo (1977) studied composition at “Conservatorio de las Rosas” in Morelia,

Mexico, with Germán Romero. He is currently earning an MA in composition and
experimental music at Wesleyan University with Alvin Lucier, Anthony Braxton and Ron
Kuivila.

His music has been performed in Mexico and the US by performers such as Ensamble 3,
Wilfrido Terrazas, Alexander Bruck, Joao Gonzáles, Versus 8 and Ensamble de las
Rosas. His first string quartet “uno” (2002) was recorded by the Arditti Quartet, and is
included in the cd: ARDITTI QUARTET: MEXICO, New Music for Strings, released by
Mode records in 2006.

http://www.myspace.com/ivannaranjo
Hiram Navarrete

Hiram Navarrete was born in Morelia, Mexico on December 23, 1976. He studied
composition (B.A.) with Germán Romero at Las Rosas Conservatory of Music in Mexico
and briefly attended Walter Zimmermann’s composition seminar at the Universität der
Künste in Berlin, Germany. In 2005, he moved to Middletown, Connecticut to start an
M.A. in Experimental Music and Composition at Wesleyan University where he had the
opportunity to work with Alvin Lucier, Ron Kuivila and Anthony Braxton. A growing
interest in sculpture–which became the main subject of his master’s thesis and his recent
work–lead him to study with artists Jeffrey Schiff (sculpture) and John Slepian
(interactive sculpture). He currently lives and works in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

http://hnavarrete.web.wesleyan.edu/info.html
Mauricio Rodriguez

Mauricio Rodríguez (1976) earned his Bachelor’s degree in composition from 1994 to
2000 at the Laboratory of Musical Creation led by Julio Estrada at The National
University of Mexico, doing at the same time piano and ethnomusicology studies. He has
a Masters in Sonology and studies composition granted by the Royal Conservatory The
Hague, The Netherlands where he studied with Clarence Barlow, Paul Berg and Konrad
Bohemer. During 2005-2006 he completed the one-year course at the Centre de Creation
Musicale with Iannis Xenakis in Paris, France. Currently he is pursuing the Doctor of
Musical Arts program in composition at Stanford University with Brian Ferneyhough as
advisor.

His musical writing is influenced by graphical representation, by multiparametric

conception of sound and musical structure, by algorithmic processes, and by
experimentation as a fundamental method of construction.