Luis Quintana is an internationally prized composer who develops his work in the field of contemporary music, extending the frontiers of his musical universe from instrumental music to acousmatic pieces and immersive sound installation
photo credit : Mai Toyama
Born in Puerto Rico, he started his composition studies with Alfonso Fuentes at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music where he was awarded the composition award and the Roberto I. Ferdman prize in 2010. Supported by the Zaleski Foundation, he continued his compositions studies in Paris at the École Normale de Musique with Michel Merlet and later at the Schola Cantorum with Narcis Bonet. Subsequently he would follow Jean-Luc Hervé’s composition course and Yan Maresz’ class of new technologies at the Boulogne-Billancourt conservatory before integrating the Ircam Cursus (2017 - 2018). He holds a master’s degree in composition from the Paris National Conservatory (CNSMDP) where he studied with Gérard Pesson. During this time he was a laureate of the Société Générale Foundation, the Meyer Foundation as well as the France Foundation.
His work has been showcased in Europe, Latin America, Asia, as well as in the United States, and has been performed by ensembles like L’Instant Donné, Ensemble Intercontemporain, TM+, Orchestre des lauréats du CNSMDP, Studio for New Music Ensemble, Illinois Modern Ensemble (among others); and has been played in such festivals like Festival Manifest, Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Biennale de Musiques Exploratoires (B!ME), Soirée Sonore at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris (Centre Pompidou), the Born Creative festival in Japan… and his catalog is partly published by Babel Scores.
Often inspired by nature and various forms of traditional and popular music (particularly Caribbean and African music), he seamlessly weaves rhythmical pulses and playful figures with suggested, effaced and disseminated imagery. His artistic pursuit centres around achieving a sense of fluidity and purity of material that brings out the expressive and poetic essence in music.
Winner of several international competitions and awards, he obtained the first prize at the 'New Classics' International Composition Competition in Moscow (2020), as well as the first prize at the Iannis Xenakis International Electronic Music Competition, the Martirano Award and the Grand Prize of the Ise-Shima art committee in 2021. Most recently he was awarded the 2022 Composition Prize in music from the Académie des Beaux-arts in France (Prix Pierre Cardin).
photo credit : Mai Toyama