Javier Álvarez (composer)
Javier Álvarez Fuentes (born May 8, 1956, Mexico City) is a Mexican composer who is known for creating works that combine a variety of international musical styles and traditions that often utilize unusual instruments and new music technologies. Álvarez is one of the best-known Mexican composers of his generation, and many of the works in his prolific oeuvre combine music technology with diverse instruments and influences from all around the world. Life and career. Born in Mexico City in 1956, Álvarez studied clarinet and musical composition with Mario Lavista in Mexico before moving to the United  States in the early 1980s and subsequently, to Great Britain, where he attended the Royal College of Music and the City University in London. His first electroacoustic music dates from his time at the University of London, such as "Temazcal" (1984). In this contemporary classic, Álvarez unexpectedly pits a pair of maracas against a complex electroacoustic backdrop. "Mannam" (1992) takes its inspiration from the other side of the globe and an ancient Korean zither called a kayagum. Winner of a 1993 Prix Ars Electronica distinction, "Mannam" blends and juxtaposes elements of Korean music with materials and performance techniques drawn from  the Mexican folk harp. "Offrande" (2001), a more recent work, offers an intriguing mix of Caribbean steel pans and electronically processed rhythmic patterns. Several of Alvarez's works incorporate elements from Latin American dance genres, such as Mambo. In Mambo a la Braque (1991), he creates an electroacoustic collage of musical segments drawn from Cuban mambo composer Dámaso Perez Prado's “Caballo Negro” (Black Horse). On a larger scale, Alvarez's Papalotl (1987), for piano and electroacoustic sounds, refers to the wider world of dance through its use of complex rhythmic patterns in a carefully synchronized duet between pianist and  electroacoustics. The resulting vibrant toccata won its composer the 1987 ICEM Prize in Paris and awards from the Bourges International Festival and Austria's Prix Ars Electronica. Amongst his orchestral and concerti output, Geometría Foliada (2003), written as a concerto for the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, reminisces on the vernacular but assimilates its influences in an evocative self-invented imaginary folklore. Alvarez's compositions have been performed throughout the world by renowned orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Mexico City Philharmonic, and the Orchestre National de France, among others. He also composed the  music for Guillermo del Toro's acclaimed 1993 horror film "Cronos." A graduate of the Royal College of Music and City University London, Álvarez has received numerous prizes and honors including a Mendelssohn Scholarship, the Lionel Robbins Award, a Gemini Fellowship, the ICEM Prize (1987), Austria's Prix Ars Electronica (1993), and awards at the Bourges International Festival. From 1993 to 1999, he was a Fellow of the Mexican Endowment for the Arts and Culture. He was a founding member of Sonic Arts Network and served as the artistic director of the Society for the Promotion of New Music in  1993. He has been a member of the music faculties of the City University London, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Malmö Music Academy, the Royal College of Music, and the University of Hertfordshire. After 25 years living in England, Alvarez returned to Mexico where he became the founding director of the Musical Arts Department of the Escuela Superior de Artes de Yucatán. After a period serving as Dean of the in Morelia, Michoacán, he resided in Mérida, in Yucatan, combining activities as a freelance composer and project animateur. Feature. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Produced by Iguana  Producciones and Ventana Films. Mexico and Los Angeles 1992. Prix de la Critique, Cannes 1993. Animation. Directed by William Latham. Produced by the Royal College of Art, London 1985. Computer Animation by William Latham. Produced by the Royal College of Art, London 1987. Composed for Sue Maclennan and Dancers. London. Commissioned by the Arts Council of Great Britain and produced by Sue Maclennan and Dancers and Chisenhale Dance Space. London. 1988.