Maria de Alvear - BIOGRAPHY [Download]
The composer Maria de Alvear was born in Madrid (Spain) in 1960. She studied music mainly in Spain and Germany: harpischord, organ, piano, conducting and composition.
Since 1998 she has regulary collaborated with her sister Ana de Alvear (visual artist), who has created photographic installations for performances of Maria de Alvear's music.[Libertad]

In 1986 she completed a course in  "Neues Musiktheater" with Prof. Mauricio Kagel at the Musikhochschule Köln. De Alvear´s work is interactive and based on a knowledge of energy connections. In every musical event (concert) she combines the power of visual art together with musical structure. To give an example: she creates an installation, placed around a chamber orchestra, using several different materials, such as salt, stones, branches or leaves, clothes, golden or coloured threads, or various sorts of video installations, depending on what the piece of music and the performing space suggest to her. She also performs and sings  in her own pieces. The inner essence of her work consists in creating protected open spaces (spiritual space, physical space, psychological space etc.) in which the performer and the audience can experience a profound freedom of being.

Some of her pieces are based on themes that are taboo to our Western way of thinking, provoking vehement debates and interesting interactions as a response to her work. This means that De Alvear´s work is also a courageous dialoge with the establishment.
The involvement of spiritual qualities and energetic knowledge in her work demands a responsible deep understanding of the great power of music and art, a power that should be taken care of in a good, strong way.

Maria de Alvear has been very influenced by the trips she has made to different aboriginal nations in USA and Russia while looking for the inner essence of music and trying to understand the roots of musical development. Working intensively with Tsolagiu M.A. RuizRazo (Cherokee nation) and Rahkweeskeh (Tuscarora nation) has been very important for her. She feels they have been her most important teachers as regards the interaction between music and both physical and non-physical reality.

The extremely diverse levels on which her work functions simultaneously are very interesting. "Sound has the quality of putting a paricular person's mind and body in a specific place". Sound combinations can work on our state of mind as precisely as a surgical instrument, the change of one single note can cause a complete change in the state of mind and physical location in which a person has been before. The way these specific places work in connection with the individual state of a person and interact with a physical and spiritual reality is the foundation upon which Maria de Alvear bases her work.

1992 Bernd Alois Zimmermann Scholarship

1998 Founding of the publishing company "WORLD EDITION", which publishes most of her music in the form of CD´s, videos and sheet music etc.. WORLD EDITION also publishes music, literature (poetry), texts, photography, artwork etc. by other artists.[htpp://www.world-edition.com]

Concerts in: Theater am Turm,
Alte Oper, Frankfurt 
WDR Radio, Köln 
Deutschlandfunk, Köln 
Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt
Conservatorio de Madrid 
Radio Iceland 
The kitchen, New York
University of Santander 
Beethoven Haus, Bonn 
Biennale Venecia
Norwegischer Rundfunk 
Radio National de España 
Österreichischer Rundfunk 
Darmstädter Frühjahrstagung 
Radio National de Espana
Curso de Nuevas Musicas,
Gran Teatro
Caceres
Deutsche Welle/Deutschlandradio, Köln
Frankfurt Théatre National, Bern
Casino, Basel
Schweizerischer Rundfunk
ORF Wien
Paralelo, Madrid
Alexander Theater, Helsinki
National Theater, Stockholm
Westfälische Musiktage, Bielefeld
Kunstverein Köln
Wesleyan University of Connecticut
Finnischer Rundfunk
Merkin Concert Hall, N.Y.
Belgischer Rundfunk
Theatro Pradillo, Madrid
Donaueschinger Musiktage
Festival Frau Musica (nova), Köln

Art Work:

October Madrid Video Sculpture 1989
Galeria Juna Mordo, Madrid
In Dank, pictures 1990
Galerie Burgis Geismann, Köln
„RAICES" multi media installation 1994
Galerie Moltkerei, Köln
„AZUL" installation, Ensemblia 97, 1997
Mönchengladbach

For more information about WORLD EDITION write or call to:

[WORLD EDTION]

Werderstraße 21

Germany - 50672 Köln

Phone/Fax +49 - 221 - 510 7266

[spanish text] [TOP]