Composers

He is one of Mexico's most performed composers. His works have been performed by more than 30 orchestras in Europe, the United States, and Latin America in some of the world's most prestigious venues.

The composer and guitarist Alejandro Cardona (Costa Rica, 1959) comes from an artistic, musical, and literary family: both his great-grandfather—and namesake—Alejandro Cardona Llorens and his grandfather Ismael Cardona Valverde were composers. He began playing various popular and traditional styles of music at a very young age. As a teenager, he studied composition with the Argentine composer Luis Jorge González. His higher education was completed at Harvard University (where he worked with Leon Kirchner, Ivan Tcherepnin, and Curt Cacioppo), the Utrecht School of the Arts (Master's degree), and the Faculty of Music of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Doctorate). Cardona has lived and worked since 1981 mainly between Costa Rica and Mexico. He was a professor of theory and composition at the National University of Costa Rica for 36 years. Currently, he works as an independent composer and as a producer of recordings of his music. He is active as an electric guitarist, performing his compositions with electronics. As a composer, he has participated actively in international forums and festivals. His music has been performed and recorded in Latin America, North America, and Europe by renowned ensembles such as the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Cuarteto José White, the Lydian String Quartet, the Mexico City Woodwind Quintet, the Ónix Ensamble, the Entrequatre guitar quartet (Spain), Trío Puelli (Brazil), the Tambuco Percussion Ensemble, the New Juilliard Ensemble (USA), the Experimental Orchestra of Native Instruments (Bolivia), the National Symphony Orchestras of Costa Rica, Mexico, El Salvador, and Colombia, the Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela, the Boston University ALEA III Ensemble, and the Heredia Symphony Orchestra, among others. In 2000, he co-authored and published the second edition of the educational book, "¿Dónde está la Má Teodora?" (music reading based on Afro-American rhythmic principles). In 2019, he published three books: "Proceso creador, oficio y metáfora"; "De los principios musicales de la armonía tonal-funcional"; and "Reinventando nuestro oído, ensayos analíticos de música latinoamericana". He has also composed music for dance (mainly in collaboration with his partner, the Costa Rican choreographer Vicky Cortés), theater (collaborating with the Costa Rican director Juan Fernando Cerdas), and film. In Costa Rica, he is a four-time winner of the "Aquileo J. Echeverría" National Music Prize (1999, 2000, 2002, 2014) for his works "Códices", "Bajo Sombras", "En el eco de las paredes", and "Cantos Enterrados". He is a full member of the Colegio de Compositores Latinoamericanos de Música de Arte and serves on the board of directors of the Heredia Symphony Orchestra, where he collaborates on various recording production projects. Recent premieres include "Bataca Chimurenga" for drum set and chamber orchestra, and "Kumbes Kumba Kumbé" for percussion quartet and electronics. His orchestral work "Son Mestizo II" was featured on the Latin Grammy-winning album "Música de Compositores Costarricenses, Vol. 2", recorded by the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. Recordings of his contemporary music can be heard via the following links.

He studied with Federico Ibarra at the FaM UNAM (Faculty of Music, National Autonomous University of Mexico). He obtained his master's degree in composition (UNAM) with the symphonic work "Ciclo de vida y muerte" (thesis advised by María Granillo). His output comprises approximately 150 works, performed by prominent musicians in Mexico, Europe, the United States, Canada, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America. He has received various grants from FONCA and SACPC. He was admitted to the National System of Art Creators (SNCA) in 2001, 2010, 2015, and 2022. There are 41 CDs featuring his music, 5 of which are monographic. He has won various awards in Mexico and abroad. He is a full-time professor at FaM UNAM. Leonardo Coral's creative work is closely related to the visual arts. His father, Flaviano Coral (1928-2018), was a painter and a member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana. Leonardo Coral grew up among paintings and painters; his mind is an arsenal of forms, colors, and textures that suggest diverse, even mythological, musical symbolisms. This gives rise to works such as: "El jardín de las delicias" (The Garden of Earthly Delights) for flute and orchestra, inspired by the work of Hieronymus Bosch (El Bosco); "Trío Homenaje a Siqueiros"; "Katharsis" for violin and strings, inspired by the mural by José Clemente Orozco; "Piezas fantásticas" (Fantastic Pieces) for violin and piano, based on "La muerte danzando" (Death Dancing) by Dominique Menkes; and "Cuatro lienzos sinfónicos" (Four Symphonic Canvases), inspired by works of his father. His Guitar Sonata No. 2 is a tribute to the painter Marco Ospina. Among his works for chorus and orchestra, there are significant pieces: the cantata "Un Sueño de Sor Juana", "Xinantécatl", "Tierra de Sombra", and "Requiem"; as well as the opera "La máscara de la muerte roja" (The Masque of the Red Death), based on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Literary influence has also been important. Likewise, he has written songs with texts by Pablo Neruda, and "Un viaje" (A Journey) for soprano, flute, and piano, with texts by seven Latin American poets. Among his orchestral works, we can mention "Águila real", "Máquina férrea", "Alegorías", "Animales míticos", and "Concierto para orquesta". The concertante form holds an important place in his output: 2 guitar concertos, 4 piano concertos, 2 violin concertos, Concerto for tenor saxophone and strings, Viola Concerto, Clarinet Concerto, Cello Concerto, Concerto for piano and chamber ensemble, Harpsichord Concerto, Organ Concerto, and Concerto for saxophone and orchestra. In his chamber and ensemble works, one can observe an interest in mythology, as well as in dance forms, altered states of consciousness, and the mysteries of existence: "Orígenes", "Arquetipos", "Oceánico", "Danzas orgiásticas", "Monstruos marinos", "Los mysteries de la noche", "Danzas y meditaciones", "Visiones", "Alucinaciones", "La danza del infinito", "Evocaciones", "Selva amazónica", "Percepciones", "Ensoñaciones", "4 poemas", and "Sueños lúcidos". There is also a preoccupation with formal structure: 3 string quartets, 2 mixed quintets, 2 sonatas for violin and piano, Sonata for cello and piano, Sonata for clarinet and piano, 2 guitar sonatas, 11 piano sonatas, 3 series of 12 preludes for piano, "Aforismos", "Sonata no tan breve", Sonata for two flutes and piano, Suite for harpsichord, Sonata for two pianos "Resonancias nocturnas", and Suite for guitar.

Winner of awards such as the Morton Gould Composition Award (ASCAP) and the Jacob Druckman Orchestral Composition Award, Francisco Cortés Álvarez (Mexico 1983) has developed a diverse musical career as a composer, arranger, music producer, and educator. His music has been performed in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, including presentations at the Aspen Music Festival and School, SEAMUS, Mizzou New Music Festival (USA), Music X (Switzerland), and thirteen editions of the Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez (Mexico). Francisco has collaborated with renowned soloists, ensembles, and orchestras such as the LA Phil conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, OFUNAM, the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, the Aspen Sinfonia Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, the IU New Music Ensemble, Orchestra 2001, the Cassatt String Quartet, Volti Chamber Singers, and Túumben Paax, among others. He has been a recipient of Tania León’s Honor Scholarship (ASCAP), a multiple-time fellow of the Study Abroad and Young Creators (Jóvenes Creadores) programs (FONCA), and a member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte (FONCA). Francisco has credits as a co-producer, editor, or composer on 11 recording productions with Naxos, Urtext, Tempus Clásico, IU Music, and Acqua Records, among others. Francisco completed his Bachelor’s degree in Music Composition at the Faculty of Music of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where he was awarded the Gabino Barreda medal, and his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Music at Indiana University (IU), where he received the Dean’s Prize. He was an associate instructor and director of the Latin American Music Ensemble at IU. Currently, he is a professor and founder of the music composition program at the School of Fine Arts of the Universidad Panamericana, and a professor of analysis and composition at the Faculty of Music of UNAM.

Charles Philip Daniels Torres has focused primarily on chamber and orchestral composition. He has received several awards and distinctions, most notably First Prize at the First Morelia Orchestral Composition Competition, Mexico, 2022; First Prize at the "Raíces" National Orchestral Composition Prize in Jalisco, Mexico, 2021; the Excellence Award at the Hangzhou International Orchestral Composition Competition "Artistic Creation Awards" in China, 2021; and First Prize at the "Future Symphony Competition" international symphonic composition competition in Lithuania, 2020. His orchestral works have been performed in Mexico and abroad by orchestras such as the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra, the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra, the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Polytechnic Institute Symphony Orchestra, the Future Symphony Orchestra (Lithuania), the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, the Sinaloa Symphony Orchestra of the Arts, the Morelia Symphony Orchestra, the Toluca Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mexiquense Symphony Orchestra, and the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving (USA). He has collaborated with conductors such as Scott Yoo, Román Revueltas Retes, Rodrigo Macías González, Luis Manuel Sánchez, Andrew Hunter, Jesús Medina Villarreal, Enrique Barrios González, Adomas Morkūnas-Budrys, Miguel Salmón del Real, and Sergio Espinosa, among others. His chamber music has been performed at festivals such as the Third Hangzhou New Music Festival, China; the Music Mexico Symposium, USA; the Festival Internacional Cervantino, Mexico; the Festival Cultural Zacatecas, the Festival de Música de Morelia, the Música de Cámara de Bellas Artes, and the Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez. Among the ensembles that have performed his music are the Shanghai New Music Ensemble, Kalliope Reed Quintet, Mexico City Woodwind Quintet, José White String Quartet, Ensamble 3, Ensamble Signos, Ensamble Zephyrus, Estereocluster, Arizona Wind Quintet, Borderlands Ensemble, and Wild Prairie Winds. As a film composer, he has created the soundtracks for several short films, including "Sânge" and the Student Academy Award-winning "Crescendo," both directed by Pércival Argüero, "Rosario" and "Alpha & Romeo," both by Marlén Ríos-Farjat, "Mi vanidad" by Francisco Bautista, and the animated short "Olas en el cielo" by Gildardo Santoyo. He also composed the music for the choreography "Ánima" by Paula Rechtman, music which was also used for the solo "Lu'um" by the same choreographer. He is a professor of harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, and composition at the Florence Academy of Art (AAF), the Núcleo Integral de Composición (NICO), the Centro de Investigación und Estudios Musicales (CIEM), and the Faculty of Music of the UNAM.

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.

Considered by the press as one of the most recognized and active musicians on today's music scene, Felipe Pérez Santiago has received numerous awards in Europe, the United States, Asia, and Latin America, including, among many others, the composition prize from the Kronos Quartet, USA.

He is a composer, guitarist, educator, and promoter of contemporary music. In 2021, he was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, and his music has been praised by Forbes as “a tribute to the important cultural heritage of music in the West.” His works have been described as “capable of encapsulating tiny and charming worlds, as if walking through a gallery of paintings” (Winnipeg Free Press) and as “incredibly beautiful, with an accessible compositional language” (The Clarinet Magazine). Piacentini has established himself as one of the most relevant voices in contemporary Latin American classical music. As a true embodiment of the composer-performer, Giovanni has received wide international recognition as a guitarist. Arkiv magazine described his performance as having “a sophistication and control that clearly distinguish him as a virtuoso.” In 2018, he undertook a solo tour of China and has performed his works in highly prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, the National Museum in Mexico City, and the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, among many others. In addition, he has appeared as a guest guitarist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), and his music has been performed by this same institution at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, one of the most iconic stages in the world. His music has been performed by prominent international musicians and ensembles, including the legendary guitarist Eliot Fisk, the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, the Lyris String Quartet, violinists Tim Fain and Movses Pogossian, as well as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, reaffirming the scope and versatility of his compositional catalog. He has released five albums as a composer and performer, which has earned him a featured article in the prestigious British magazine Gramophone, a nomination for the Independent Music Awards in 2020, and, more recently, a Latin Grammy nomination, consolidating his international presence within contemporary classical music. In October 2022, he premiered his Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, dedicated to and performed by Eliot Fisk alongside the Carlos Chávez Youth Orchestra in Mexico City. In 2025, he participated in a recording at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London with the London Symphony Orchestra, an artistic milestone that reflects the international reach and relevance of his creative work. Giovanni Piacentini graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music in Boston, obtained his master's degree in composition with the renowned American composer Richard Danielpour, and completed his doctorate in music composition at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he also served as a teaching associate in music theory and history. He has been named a Teaching Artist Fellow by the prestigious Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He resides in Los Angeles, where he teaches at Pepperdine University and the National Children's Chorus, combining an active international career as a composer and performer with a deep pedagogical vocation and artistic leadership.

Es una de las compositoras más destacadas y prolíficas del panorama musical contemporáneo en México. Su obra abarca un amplio espectro que va desde el repertorio sinfónico y de cámara hasta la ópera, la música vocal y la creación escénica para teatro y danza, colaborando estrechamente con los directores escénicos más importantes del país. Dentro de su catálogo lírico y vocal sobresalen seis óperas: La Sunamita (1990), Séneca o todo nos es ajeno (2004), Las cartas de Frida (2011), El día que María perdió la voz, María Sabina, la sabia de los hongos y Grillos y chicharras. Asimismo, destacan el performance coral Bola Negra (2012) y el oratorio Un réquiem mexicano (para solistas, coro mixto y orquesta sinfónica), inspirado en el libro Visión de los vencidos de Miguel León-Portilla. En el terreno instrumental, ha compuesto once conciertos para solista y orquesta —que incluyen dos conciertos para piano, dos para percusiones, dos para flautas dulces, así como conciertos para guitarra, violonchelo, violín y clarinete—, todos estrenados por las principales agrupaciones sinfónicas de México, además de un extenso repertorio de obras orquestales y de cámara. Su música cuenta con una sólida proyección internacional. Su Primer concierto para flauta dulce y orquesta se presentó en el Carnegie Hall de Nueva York, y sus composiciones han sido interpretadas por agrupaciones de prestigio como la Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de Venezuela, la Orquesta Sinfónica de Atenas y la Orquesta de Córdoba en España. Asimismo, la Orquesta de Cámara de la Comunidad de Madrid estrenó su ópera Séneca o todo nos es ajeno en el Festival de Alcalá de Henares, mientras que Las cartas de Frida formó parte con gran éxito de la temporada 2011–2012 de la Ópera de Heidelberg en Alemania, antes de su estreno en México en 2013. Miembro del Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte desde 1994, Marcela Rodríguez también ha desarrollado una importante labor como promotora y curadora cultural. Ha organizado diversos encuentros de música mexicana en el extranjero, entre los que destacan el festival MEXartes en Berlín, Alemania, y la dirección del Festival «Puentes» entre México y España.

Composer, cultural manager, and full-time tenured professor at the Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Morelia of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where he was co-founder of the Bachelor's Degree in Music and Artistic Technology www.enesmorelia.org. He is interested in working with new technologies, especially in the field of electroacoustic music. Since 2006, he has been the director of the Mexican Center for Music and Sonic Arts www.cmmas.org, from where he coordinates various initiatives in creation, education, research, and cultural management related to sound and music. He received the 2024 Bellas Artes Medal in Music from INBAL (Mexico). He studied at the Centro de Investigación y Estudios de la Música (CIEM) and obtained a PhD from City University London and a postdoctoral degree from UNAM, as well as a diploma in cultural management from UAM-BID. He has continued his studies and creative projects with various fellowships and support from institutions such as Fulbright (2024), FONCA (member of the SNCA 2011-18), Pride C (UNAM), and the DeVos Institute for cultural management, among others. He is a member of the National System of Researchers of the SECIHTI (Level 1) and for over 20 years has been part of the Lumínico project www.luminico.org, director of the Visiones Sonoras festival www.visionessonoras.org, and editor of the journal Ideas Sónicas www.sonicideas.org.

Originally from Mexico City, he studied composition at the UNAM Faculty of Music with Gabriela Ortiz and Francisco Cortés-Álvarez. In 2019, he was awarded the Arturo Márquez Extraordinary Chair Fellowship from the UNAM, which gave him the opportunity to study with the renowned Mexican composer for a year. In 2020, he was selected for the FONCA 'Jóvenes Creadores' program and won first prize in the '#EstarMejor' National Composition Competition for Symphony Orchestra, organized by the Universidad Panamericana. Subsequently, he became a fellow of Concertia’s Emerging Composers Fellowship (Houston, 2021-2022) and won third prize in the 'Raíces' Orchestral Competition, organized by the Ministry of Culture of Jalisco and the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2021, he was the first Mexican composer invited by the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing to compose a work for the International Music Education Alliance Forum (CCOM). His music has been performed in Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica, Colombia, China, and Finland by soloists and ensembles such as the National Symphony Orchestra, the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Eduardo Mata Youth Orchestra of the UNAM. In 2024, he won the Arturo Márquez Chamber Orchestra Composition Competition (SACM-INBAL) and was once again selected for the FONCA 'Jóvenes Creadores' program, establishing himself as one of the most prominent emerging voices in contemporary Mexican composition.