María Granillo

María Granillo is a renowned Mexican composer. She was born in Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico, in 1962. Maestra Granillo stands out for her furtive imagination, her exploration, development, and derivation of musical poetics, as well as her use of themes related to natural phenomena, mythology, and the infinite spectrum of human emotions.

Her work denotes an interest in the dramatic direction of musical discourse, creating sonic metaphors within complex and dynamic gestures that converge into a broad emotional spectrum. María's work is characterized by the eclectic and comprehensive organization of all the elements of musical language employed in each project, always being intimately linked to reflection, intuition, and lyricism.

Her compositions span all genres of concert music, as well as original music for theater, cinema, dance, etc. Her works have been recorded and performed by the most outstanding national and international musicians and by all the major orchestras of Mexico.

She was a student of Dr. Federico Ibarra Groth at the Faculty of Music of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and was a member of the Composition Workshop directed by Daniel Catán, Julio Estrada, Federico Ibarra, and Mario Lavista.

Funded by a scholarship from UNAM, María Granillo completed a postgraduate degree at The Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, under the direction of Robert Saxton. Subsequently, she obtained a Master's degree in Music Technology awarded by the University of York (England) in 1993. In 2006, she obtained a DMA in Composition from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, under the direction of Dr. Keith Hamel.

Throughout her career, her main activities have been musical composition and teaching at various educational levels. Since 1993, she has been a member of the teaching staff at the Faculty of Music of UNAM, where she has supervised numerous undergraduate and postgraduate theses.

María Granillo's work plays an active role in the Mexican contemporary music scene within its most representative venues, such as the Festival Cervantino, the Manuel Enríquez International Forum of New Music, the Cantat IV Festival, etc. Likewise, her works are constantly presented at various international festivals in several countries across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, which has earned her nominations and awards such as:

Winner: 1993 and 1996, Jóvenes Creadores (Young Creators) Fellowship, awarded by the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA).

Winner: 1996, Mozart Medal.

Winner: 1998 and 2007, National Choral Composition Prize.

Nominee: 2010, Ariel Award, awarded by the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences.

Winner: 2014, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Recognition, an award granted by UNAM to outstanding university women.