Biography

Hèctor Parra (Barcelona 1976) is a pensionnaire at the French Academy in Rome / Villa Medici 2021-22.

He studied composition with David Padrós and Carles Guinovart at the Barcelona Conservatoire, with Jonathan Harvey, Brian Ferneyhough and Philippe Manoury at the Ircam in Paris and with Michael Jarrell at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva. He holds a Master in Arts from the University of Paris-VIII with distinction. He was Professor of Electroacoustic Composition at the Conservatory of Zaragoza, Spain, and from 2013 to 2017 he taught composition at Ircam-Centre Pompidou.

His works have been premiered by Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, Musikfabrik, Ensembe Recherche, Arditti Quartet, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Radio Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Freiburger Barockorchester, Concerto Köln, Barcelona National Orchestra, Spain National Orchestra, among others.

He has received commissions from the French State, Flemish Opera, Nuremberg Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Ircam-Centre Pompidou, Berlin Academy of the Arts, Strasbourg Musica Festival, Louvre Museum, WDR, SWR, Cologne Philharmonic, Mécénat Musical Société Générale and the Selmer Society. His works have been premiered at international festivals such as Lucerne, Warsaw Autumn, Wien Modern, Paris Philharmonie, Donaueschingen, Ircam Manifeste, Witten, Stuttgart Opera, Barcelona Opera Liceu, Guggenheim NY, San Francisco Arts Festival, Vienna Konzerthaus, etc.

He has composed six operas and music theatre works in close collaboration with authors such as Marie NDiaye and Händl Klaus, which have been staged by Caixto Bieito, Rebecca Ringst, Vera Nemirova, Georges Lavaudant, Matthew Ritchie, Benjamin Schad and Robert Pienz at the Antwerp Opera House in 2019 and the Berlin State Opera in 2016, Schwetzinger SWR Festival 2015, Munich Biennale 2014, Theater Freiburg 2014, Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord 2014, Festival Musica Strasbourg 2014, Sophiensaele Berlin and Basel Gare du Nord 2013, Gran Teatre del Liceu 2010, Luxembourg Philharmonie 2010, Kaaitheater Brussels 2010, Centre Pompidou 2009, Opera de Hoy 2007, Madrid.

Since the world premiere of his latest opera Les Bienveillantes, based on the novel of the same name by Jonathan Littell, with a libretto by Händl Klaus and staged by Calixto Bieito, the international press has been rapturous: "The most important opera of the 21st century" La Vanguardia, "A grandiose and challenging score" BRF Nachrichten, "A highly expressive music, masterfully orchestrated" Neue Zürcher Zeitung, "A colossal score, of great dramatic power" El Mundo, "Immensely powerful, extremely cleverly constructed" Deutschlandfunk, "A borderline experience" Crescendo Magazine. His opera Das geopferte Leben, 2014 was nominated by the prestigious German magazine Opernwelt as "one of the premieres of the year", and his latest opera Wilde was described as "a masterpiece" by the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the specialist magazine Das Opernglas.

His latest projects include Inscape, an immersive symphonic work inspired by the cosmological theories of French physicist Jean-Pierre Luminet.

Winner of the 2011 Ernst von Siemens Composers Prize and the 2017 Catalan National Culture Prize, he was awarded the 2009 Tendències Prize by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. In 2007 he won the Donald Aird Memorial Prize of San Francisco and in 2008 the Impuls/Klangforum Wien de Graz. In 2005 he was unanimously awarded the Tremplin Prize of the Ensemble Intercontemporain. In 2002 he won the Prize of the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music of Spain.

A monographic CD of his trios and chamber music, performed by the Ensemble Recherche, has been released by KAIROS (2008). In 2010 KAIROS will release his chamber opera Hypermusic Prologue, with a libretto by the renowned Harvard physicist Lisa Randall, performed by the Ensemble Intercontemporain and Ircam, and in 2012 his fourth monographic CD will be released by Col-legno and the Ernst von Siemens Foundation: Caressant l'Horizon.

His works are published by Durand/Universal Music Publishing Classical, Paris, and Editorial Tritó (Barcelona).

www.hectorparra.net