Juan Manuel Abras

Background and education

Born in Stockholm (Sweden), and then raised in Geneva (Switzerland) and Madrid (Spain), Juan Manuel Abras spent his adolescence in Buenos Aires, Venice and Bilbao, and his youth in Vienna and Kraków, receiving his music education while living in Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Argentina along with his family (his father being a diplomat and journalist, his mother being a sociologist and piano teacher). A disciple of Krzysztof Penderecki, Kurt Schwertsik and Roberto García Morillo, Abras completed both postgraduate and graduate studies in Musical composition (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Academy of Music in Kraków and 'Manuel de Falla' Superior Conservatory of Music Buenos Aires), while attending master classes and courses by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Helmut Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm and Alexander Müllenbach. At the same time, Juan Manuel Abras studied Orchestral conducting (completing both postgraduate and graduate studies) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (with Leopold Hager) and 'Manuel de Falla' Superior Conservatory of Music Buenos Aires, as well as privately with Guillermo Scarabino, while pursuing internships and courses with Michael Gielen (at the Berlin State Opera), Ervin Acél and Dominique Fanal. Prior to that, he completed studies in Piano—first taught to him by his mother during his childhood—(Municipal Superior Conservatory of Music San Sebastián, Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia—with Giovanni Umberto Battel—, Centro de Estudios Musicales Juan de Antxieta Musikaltegia Bilbao—with Luis Fernando Barandiarán—and 'Carlos López Buchardo' National Conservatory of Music—with Ana Litovsky-Grünwald and Elizabeth Fiocca—, now the Music Department of the Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte). He also obtained a Doctorate (PhD) in Music (Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina), a Master's degree in Hispanic Music (University of Salamanca-University of Valladolid), a Licentiate's degree in History and a Bachelor's degree in History (University del Salvador, studying also at the University of Deusto), while attending master classes and courses in Musical pedagogy, Music history, Harpsichord, and Marketing and cultural policies.

Career and awards

Juan Manuel Abras has been considered by specialized music critics as "a genuine representative of Argentine music [...] for premiering works that reveal a rooting in the musical heritage of the country" and as "a firm promise of Argentine music abroad." Musicologists have stated that in his musical works "there are, apart from the psychoanalysis [...] references to literature, religion, archaeology, etc." and that "variety is also found in [...] [Abras'] musical language," which contains "in fact a unity, by nature inaudible [...] realised each time through the different styles." In his musical piece 'Chacarera beatboxera', for instance, "Abras united in a whole elements taken from ethnic music, ancient popular melodies and New Music, creating a dancing whirlwind somewhat 'trance', full of solar joy and amusement," while during the Finnish premiere of his musical composition 'The song of Anna O.' he "took the listener to a world of rhythmically latent fantasy, similar to a haunted castle."

Juan Manuel Abras has created more than a half hundred musical compositions (for symphony/chamber orchestra/ensemble and/or choir with/without soloists, stage, solo instrument, electroacoustic sounds, etc.) (see below), many of which have been performed at: International Gaudeamus Music Week (Netherlands), International Festival of Contemporary Music 'Warsaw Autumn' (Poland), Festival MANCA (France), Time of Music Festival (Finland), International Forum of New Music 'Manuel Enríquez' (Mexico), Festival 'Le Printemps des Poètes' (France), International Festival Discantus (Mexico), International Festival of Contemporary Music 'Kraków Composers' Days' (Poland), Salzburg Mozarteum (Austria), Hellerau - Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Dresden (Germany), Bimhuis-Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ (Netherlands), International Research and Information Centre 'Thracica' (Bulgaria), Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico), LRA Radio Nacional Auditorium (Argentina), Columbia University (United States), York University (Canada), University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (Austria), University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), California State University (USA), Théâtre Dunois (France), Filharmonia Łódzka im. Artura Rubinsteina (Poland), Teatro Colón (Argentina), etc. His current discography (see below) includes works featured in 6 CDs published in Austria, France, Poland and Argentina.

Throughout his career, Juan Manuel Abras has won numerous awards and scholarships: Grafimuse Prize (Brussels, 2011), Wiener Filmmusikpreis 2nd Prize (Vienna, 2010), Sibelius Chamber Orchestra 'Bicentenario' Mention (Banfield), TRINAC Prize (EIMC-ISCM, 2008), Fundacja Argentynska Scholarship (Warsaw, 2006), Beca 'Directorio' del Fondo Nacional de las Artes (Buenos Aires, 2005), 'In Memoriam Erich Kleiber' Scholarship (Berlin, 2004), 'Theodor Körner' Prize (Vienna, 2003), 'Franz Josef Reinl' Stiftung 2nd Prize (Vienna, 2002), TRINAC and TRIMARG Mentions (both EIMC-ISCM-CAMU-IMC-UNESCO, 2002), Gold Medal Award both in musical composition and orchestral conducting (Buenos Aires, 2000), etc.

Professional and teaching positions

Juan Manuel Abras has worked as composer in residence, as well as guest composer and commissioned composer, within the frame of activities held by: 51. International Festival of Contemporary Music 'Warsaw Autumn' (2008), Ensemble Aleph - 4th International Forum for Young Composers (Program 'Culture 2000' of the European Union; Paris, 2006), Fundacja Argentynska (Warsaw, 2006), XIII Laboratory of Contemporary Music (Warsaw, 2006), International Forum for Culture and Business (Dresden, 2003), etc. A member of the Austrian Composers' Society (ÖKB), Argentine Composers Association (AAC), United Composers of Argentina (CUDA) and SADAIC, Abras has been appointed chief conductor, assistant conductor and artistic director of several Argentine orchestras (including the Ibero-American Chamber Orchestra of the National Academy of Fine Arts and the House [Symphony] Orchestra of the Tucumán Province), participating in the dissemination of Argentine music and Ibero-American music as composer, conductor, pianist and concert series organizer, also working as arranger, orchestrator, music engraver, score preparator and music copyist. In Argentina, Juan Manuel Abras also worked as Professor at the 'Astor Piazzolla' Superior Conservatory of Music of the City of Buenos Aires (teaching Musical analysis, Musical stylistics and Instrumental practice), as Invited Member (researcher) of the Institute of Musicological Research 'Carlos Vega'-UCA (transcribing and researching Latin-American manuscripts of Renaissance music and Baroque music) and as Professor at the National University of Lanús, Buenos Aires Province (teaching Musical techniques and Chamber music of the 20th century).

Selected compositions

Discography