Pedro Amaral

Pedro Amaral
Period: 2004-2005
Profession: Composer Born in Lisbon in 1972, Pedro Amaral is one of the most active composers of the younger generation. After completing his higher education in Portugal, he entered Emmanuel Nunes’ class at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris, where he was unanimously awarded first prize four years later. Pedro Amaral began theoretical work at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. He first devoted himself to an analysis of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s “Gruppen”, obtaining a Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies (1998) and, later, a doctoral thesis on “Momente” and the problematic of form in serial music (2003) – work that has always been rewarded by the highest academic classifications. While pursuing his practical and theoretical studies, Pedro Amaral also studied conducting with Emilio Pomarico and Peter Eötvös, conducting with some regularity both his own works and those of composers of recent generations. Meanwhile, during his first stay at IRCAM (1998/99), Pedro Amaral composed “Transmutations”, for piano and live electronics. The work was subsequently chosen to represent Portugal at UNESCO’s International Rostrum of Composers. In 2001, invited by Peter Eötvös, Pedro Amaral was composer-in-residence at the Herrenhaus Edenkoben in Germany. The same year, Ensemble Recherche created “Organa”, for ensemble and live electronics ad libitum, commissioned by Porto 2001, European Capital of Culture / Festival Musica Viva – a work realized at IRCAM. In 2003/04 Pedro Amaral returned to IRCAM for the third time as a research composer. His work in the field of synthesis and real time led to the composition of “Script”, for percussion and electronics, partially premiered in Coimbra, September 2003. Commissioned by the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Witten Festival, the Macau International Festival, the City of Matosinhos, Porto 2001, European Capital of Culture, among others, Pedro Amaral’s works are performed by major international orchestras and ensembles, under the direction of the composer as well as renowned conductors such as Mark Foster, Muhai Tang, Lucas Pfaff, Renato Rivolta, Johannes Kalitzke, Franck Ollu, Michael Zilm and others. Appointed by the Académie de France in Rome, Pedro Amaral is composer-in-residence at the Villa Médicis until October 2005.