Born in Bilbao in 1969. He studied at the Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga Superior Conservatory of Music and with Carmelo Bernaola in Vitoria, obtaining honors in composition and piano. In 1995 he entered the Royal Academy of Music in London where he completed postgraduate studies in composition with Michael Finnissy and obtained the Diploma of Excellence and a Master's degree with distinction from the University of London.
His works have been performed at the Biennale di Venezia (2004, 2014 and 2019), Musikverein in Vienna; South Bank Centre, ICA and Wigmore Hall in London; at the ISCM World Music Day in Manchester (1998), Hong Kong (2007) and Beijing (2018); Festival Musica Strasbourg, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival; New Music Festival in Sydney; Carnegie Hall and Symphony Space in New York; Festival Time of Music in Viitasaari (Finland); Konzerthaus in Berlin, National Auditorium of Music in Madrid, Salle Cortot in Paris and in other cities such as Saint Petersburg, Buenos Aires and Wellington.
His music has been published on DVD by the BBVA Foundation, as well as recorded on CD by the Ensemble Recherche, the Arbís Trio, the Madrid Community Orchestra or the countertenor Carlos Mena for the Verso, Stradivarius and Harmonia Mundi labels.
He has received various awards, among which the Queen Sofía Prize for Musical Composition in 2008 stands out; First prize from SGAE in 1996; Prize for Contemporary Musical Composition from the Basque Government in 1999; Musika Bulegoa Prize 2018 and several prizes from the Royal Academy of Music. In 2011 he obtained the Rome Prize, as well as the Musical Composition Prize from the Colegio de España in Paris-INAEM. He has participated in the UNESCO International Composers' Forum, and in the Gaudeamus Muziekweek.
In 2001 he was appointed honorary associate member of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM), where he taught orchestration classes. He was Professor of the Manuel de Falla Chair of Composition in 2014. That same year he gave the Inaugural Lecture of the summer courses at UPVEHU.
He has given lectures at the UDK in Berlin and at the Complutense University of Madrid. He was president of Musikagileak (Basque-Navarrese Association of Composers) between 2015 and 2019 and is currently a composition professor at Musikene (Superior Center of Music of the Basque Country), and coordinator of the Contemporary Music Concert Series of the BBVA Foundation in Bilbao. He received the National Music Prize 2021, awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
This project was born with the aim of establishing a connection between contemporary composers dedicated to creating avant-garde art and the public interested in it. Contemporary art faces various challenges—undoubtedly numerous ones—with one of the most recurring being the lack of "understanding" with which the potential audience for contemporary art justifies their disinterest in artistic manifestations.Contemporary music is not exempt from all these conditions and, at the same time, it is not immune to possible solutions that help normalize current repertoire in the demands of music lovers and integrate it into the cultural programming of cities and concert halls.Undoubtedly, when a creator speaks about their work with the passion of the creative act and delves not only into their creative processes but also into their motivations and expressive needs, a greater connection with the public is achieved and the path toward acceptance of the work is cleared. It is the project of four saxophonists passionate about their instrument and contemporary music. The members of LUMINA Ensemble combine their efforts for the respectful and committed achievement of high-level musical performances. Lumina refers to the light that continuously permeates our land and shapes us as human beings. Light as a means of union between people who converge in a common project and as a metaphor for our way of understanding musical performance, with proposals through contemporary music.The ensemble's main objective is the dissemination of repertoire composed from the 21st century onwards. Essential to achieving this goal is collaboration with composers and the premiere of works written for this group, proposing the saxophone quartet as a unique instrument full of timbral and expressive resources at the service of new creation.Lumina's infinite curiosity about performative action has led them to perform in various concert halls, festivals and concert series both in Spain and in other countries in our region such as the ENSEMS festival (Valencia), the Contemporary Festival of Alicante (ADDA), Kuraia Festival (Bilbao), Contemporary Music Festival (Córdoba), Mostra Sonora (Sueca), International Organ Festival – FIOB (Benidorm), Concerts d´Advent (Alcoi) or their recent participation in the Organistic Festival of Salento (Lecce – Italy), Festival Due Mare (Gallipoli – Italy). They have a first recording titled Terra Lucis, and have participated in Mexican composer Samuel Cedillo's album for the Kairós record label.Lumina Ensemble is the dedicatee of numerous pieces by renowned authors such as Jesús Torres, Zulema de la Cruz, Eneko Vadillo, Sonia Megías, Oliva Carrión-Arteta, José del Valle, Iluminada Pérez, Ximo Cano, David Leal, Sara Blanco, José Vicente Fuentes Castilla, Diana P. Custodio, M. Eugenia Luc or Voro García.Lumina Ensemble is composed of: Pablo de la Fuente (soprano saxophone), Javier Carrillos (alto saxophone), Pablo Pardo (tenor saxophone) and José Antonio Suay (baritone saxophone).
