Parra, Hèctor

Barcelona 1976

Studied music at the Conservatorium of Barcelona where he was awarded Honour Prizes for Composition, Piano and Harmony. Private composition studies under David Padrós. Doctorate studies at the University of Paris VIII with Horacio Vaggione and the 2002-2003 annual course in composition and computer music at Ircam.

Has participated actively in numerous international composition courses: Royaumont, Centre Acanthes (France) and Takefu (Japan). Selected by Ircam, in 2005 he has served as the resident composer for the ballet of the CNSMD in Lyon and he awarded the prize of the Ircam-Ensemble Intercontemporain reading panel "Tremplin 2005" for a commission of a chamber orchestra piece with live electronics. Finalist in the Gaudeamus 2005 international composition competition in Amsterdam, in December 2002 he won the Prize for Musical Composition from the INAEM (Spanish National Institute for the Scenic Arts and Music). Has studied under Brian Ferneyhough, Joan Guinjoan, Jonathan Harvey, Philippe Leroux, José Manuel López, Brice Pauset and Mikhail Malt and has received grants from the Agustí Pedro i Pons Foundation of the University of Barcelona, the Government of Catalonia and the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

He won the 2007 edition of Earplay Donald Arid Memorial Composers Competition with his work Trio Wortschaten, the violin, cello, and piano composition was selected from 169 entries from 27 countries.

His works have been premiered by the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Arditti String Quartet, Ensemble Recherche, Holland Symfonia, Algoritmo Ensemble, Duo Nataraya, Proxima Centauri, etc. at international festivals and concert seasons, including Avignon, Résonances at Ircam, CDMC Madrid, Metz, San Sebastian, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Centre Georges Pompidou, Novart Bordeaux, Maison de la Danse de Lyon and Forum Neues Musiktheater of the Stuttgart Opera House. He has received commissions from the institutions such as IRCAM, Festival Musica Strasbourg, Berlin Arts Academy, Ensemble Intercontemporain, CDMC and the Spanish Ministry of Culture, Orchestre National d’Île de France, Catalan Government, Société H. Selmer (Paris)…