BIOGRAPHY [ENG] Javier Muñoz Bravo is a Chilean composer interested in both instrumental and electroacoustic music. His catalog of works includes pieces for soloists, chamber music, ensemble, orchestra, as well as music for dance and cinema. He draws inspiration from natural phenomena such as chaotic processes or the behavior of light. He also works on the flexibility of time in real-time music and artificial intelligence.
He studied composition at the University of Chile in Santiago with Andrés Maupoints, Cirilo Vila, Jorge Pepi-Alos, among others. After studying at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg with Mark Andre, he obtained his Master’s degree in Composition at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin in Strasbourg with composers Philippe Manoury, Annette Schlünz, Tom Mays, and Thierry Blondeau. He completed the IRCAM Cursus in composition and computer music with Hector Parra and a Master’s degree in mixed composition at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva with Michael Jarrell, Luis Naon, and Eric Daubresse. He also studied at the Conservatoire de Gennevilliers with José Manuel López López, obtaining a DEM in composition with honors and the jury’s congratulations. Additionally, he studied with Hanspeter Kyburz, Miller Puckette, Georg Friedrich Haas, Yan Maresz, Philippe Leroux, Martin Matalon, Bruno Mantovani, Yann Robin, Johannes Maria Staud, Henry Fourès, Luca Belcastro, Natasha Barrett, José Miguel Fernández, and many others.
As a composer, he has performed at the Institut Français in Barcelona, the VIth-IXth Ai-maako Electroacoustic Music Festivals (Chile), the VIIth-Xth Contemporary Music Festivals of the University of Chile, the Contemporary Classical Music Festival of Lima (Peru), the 39th Electronic Music and Creations Festival in Bourges, Les Nuits des Cathédrales (Strasbourg Cathedral), the 1st-6th Exhibitronics Festival in Strasbourg, Futura Crest, Basel Conservatory, and more. He presented the premiere of his ballet Messe électronique (dance, 3D images, and choreography by J-F. Duroure) at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg. In 2014, he presented a piece during two listening sessions of the collective L’état latent at IRCAM (Paris) and in Darmstadt (Germany), and as a finalist at the Acousmatic Composition Competition France-Taiwan, as well as in Buenos Aires. At the 3rd World Forum for Democracy, he composed the music for the illumination of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg with the AV-Exciters collective. He also participated in the 43rd International Cervantino Festival (Mexico) with the Vertebrae ensemble. Finally, he presented various creations at the Musica and SaxOpen festivals in Strasbourg and the Yehudi Menuhin Forum Bern with Andrés Castellani, as well as an orchestral piece with the Mitteldeutsche Kammerphilharmonie during the Impuls festival (Bauhaus-Dessau, Germany). The Dela duo premiered one of his works in France and at the Singapore Saxophone Symposium in 2017, as well as at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Recital Centre, and the University of Monash and Sydney. He held a monographic concert at the Cité internationale des Arts in Paris with his saxophone pieces performed by saxophonists Joseph Lallo, Olivier Duverger, Melinda Urh, soprano Claire Trouilloud, and violist Antonin Le Faure.
Javier collaborates with soloists from the Conservatories of Paris, Lyon, and Hem Geneva, particularly with violinist Aya Kono, during the Ircam Manifeste festivals in Paris, Printemps des Arts in Monte-Carlo (MonacoTech), and Archipel in Geneva (Switzerland). In Geneva, he created a string quartet with electronics with the Ensemble Contrechamps, a piece for ensemble and electronics with the Ensemble Voxter, and a piece for narrator, orchestra, and real-time electronics with French actress Isabelle Adjani as the soloist with the Geneva Camerata orchestra. A second version of this piece was then presented on Swiss Radio and Television with the Orchestra of the Haute École de Musique in Geneva, conducted by Pierre Bleuse.
At the électr()cutions festival by Ensemble Sillages in Brest, he performed one of his works with saxophonist Stéphane Sordet and created a piece with the Multilatérale ensemble under the direction of Léo Warynski and another with the 2e2m ensemble at the Conservatoire de Gennevilliers in Paris. At ARCo University Mozarteum Salzburg and Gmem-Marseille, Javier premiered a work with the ensembles Les Métaboles and Multilatérale under the direction of Léo Warynski.
Javier has completed four artistic residencies at the Cité internationale des Arts in Paris and received excellence scholarships from the Haute École des Arts du Rhin and the City of Strasbourg, as well as four grants from SACEM (the copyright society in France). He also received a scholarship from the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage of Chile. He was awarded the Coupleux-Lassalle Foundation Prize in 2017, premiering at the Format Raisin festival (France) with soprano Jeanne Saucroud and pianist Wilhem Latchoumia. Javier received the Mega Jury Composition Prize 2017 in Buenos Aires. He was granted the “Assistance to Writing” (formerly State Commission) from the French Ministry of Culture to compose a live performance work. In this context, Javier has been a composer in residence at the International Puppetry Institute (Charleville-Mézières), Maillon Theater (Strasbourg), La Nef (Saint-Dié-des-Vosges), Grand Est Cultural Agency (Alsace), and Jardin Parallèle (Reims).
He composed the music for Or-là, a photosensitive and choreographic experience at the dawn of the image’s emergence, built around the camera obscura device for the CINEMA ZERO association. The team included Andrea Baglione (concept), Madeleine Fournier (choreographer-performer), Laura Ben Hayoun (photographer-performer), Javier Munoz Bravo (sound creation), Lucien Valle (light creation), and Aristeo Tordesillas (dramaturgy). This piece was supported by MONTÉVIDÉO (Marseille).
Javier also contributed to the CD Guitarra+ by Chilean guitarist Andrés Gonzáles, supported by a grant from the Chilean Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage. This work was presented at the IDKF festivals in Stuttgart (Germany) and Atemporánea in Buenos Aires.
SACEM also provided funding for him to compose a piece alongside Ensemble Resilience, which premiered at the Gaudeamus Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands, and additional funding for the dance piece ThREE with holograms, voice, and electronics, in collaboration with Swiss choreographer Stefanie Inhelder. With this piece, Javier and the Glitch company secured the “Ici et Ailleurs” artistic research grant from the Francophone Commission for Cultural Affairs of the Canton of Bern. The production was staged in Swiss theaters such as Nebia in Biel, Jura in Delémont, Lokremise in St. Gallen, and Immersive Arts Space at ZHdK Zurich.
His immersive work Une Saison en Métavers for voice, AI avatar-video, motion capture, and real-time electronics was premiered at the Électrocution 2024 festival by Ensemble Sillages in Brest, France. This piece was co-produced by Glitch, Ensemble Sillages, and La Carène Brest, with the support of the French Ministry of Culture, SACEM, the City of Biel, the Canton of Bern, and Immersive Arts Space ZHdK Zurich. The creative team included Javier Muñoz Bravo (composition, computer music, musical conception, dramaturgy, and scenography), Stefanie Inhelder (final staging and light creation), Stella Speziali (visuals), and Claire Trouilloud (voice).
Javier received the Pulsar-Chile awards as the best classical music artist of the year in 2022 and was also nominated in 2019.