About me
Composer, sound artist and performer. Author of instrumental, vocal and electronic music, installations and performances, his work focuses on the relationship between body, sound and space, the exploration of traditional instruments as creative spaces and the exploration of natural materials from the instrumental point of view.
My music is published on BabelScores.
Biography
Despite the assertion of several researchers, who consider that it could have happened before, it is widely admitted that Juan José Eslava picked up a pencil for the first time at the age of one.
He discovered how a diagonal can reveal the presence of a tree between horizontals and verticals. He entered the field of egg-laying hens, tree barks and the stars of the Earth. He learned to emit his screams through the roofs of this world and to listen to their shocking, tender, sensual, elusive echoes…
Despite his later involvement in complementary technologies to the pencil, he never managed to stay within a square, as is usually required in all elementary schools.
Much to his regret… or perhaps not that much!
Short profile
Juan José Eslava focuses his work on the relationship between body, sound and space, and on the exploration of traditional instruments and natural materials from a sound and symbolic point of view.
His catalogue includes orchestral, chamber, vocaland electronic music, an opera, installations, performances and collaborations with theatre and dance.
Present at the festivals ICMC (Regional Prize in 2008), Transitio (finalist in 2008), SICMF, Time-of-Music, Ensems or ISCM World New Music Days, he works with performers like Nicholas Isherwood, Norio Sato, Nomad Ensemble, Neopercusión, Trio Zukan, Pilar Fontalba, Rody van Gemert…
Eslava received his diploma in 2000 at the Paris Conservatory under the guidance of Emmanuel Nunes, Michaël Lévinas and Marc André Dalbavie, and followed the IRCAM’s Cursus on Composition and Computer in 2004.
He has also worked with Gérard Grisey, Jonathan Harvey, José Manuel López-López and Brian Ferneyhough.
Nowadays, he teaches Composition and Orchestration at the High Conservatory of Music of Navarra, Spain.
Professional training
- Diplôme de Formation Supériore en Composition (2000). National Superior Conservatory of Paris. Main professors: Emmanuel Nunes, Gérard Grisey, Michael Lévinas, Marc-André Dalbavie, Luis Naon.
- Diplôme de Formation Supériore en Écriture (1999). National Superior Conservatory of Paris. Main professors: Jean-Claude Henry, Roger Boutry.
- Título Superior de Composición. High Conservatory of Music of Aragón (Spain). Main professors: Teresa Catalán, Agustí Charles.
- IRCAM Composition Cursus of Computer Music. Main Professors: Philippe Leroux, Mikhail Malt, Benjamin Thigpen.
- Other professional environments of formation:
- Summer Composition course of Royaumont-Voix-Nouvelles Foundation; Summer Composition course of Centre Acanthes; Composition course of European Academy of Aix-en-Provence Festival (France); Summer Composition course of Veruela (Spain); Summer Composition course of Szombathey (Hungary). Main professors: Jonathan Harvey, Brian Ferneyhough, Philippe Manoury, Mikhail Malt.
- Composition class of Claude Ballif at École Municipale de Musique de Sevran (France, from 1991 to 1994).
- Research degree from the Public University of Navarra (Spain) in the field of musical pedagogy (2003).
Extended profile
Catalogue and artistic approach
Juan José Eslava focuses his work on the relationship between the body, sound, and space, and on the exploration of traditional instruments and natural materials from a holistic perspective, encompassing both sound and symbolic aspects.
His catalogue includes orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electronic music, as well as one opera, installations, performances, and collaborations with theatre and dance.
Main festivals
Present at the festivals Musica Nova, ISCM World New Music Days, Encuentros Pamplona 2022, Labirinti sonori, Time-of-Music, International Computer Music Festival, Transitio, Seoul International Computer Music Festival, World Saxophone Congress, Puentes, Jornadas Argentinas de Música Contemporánea, Contemporary Music Circuit of Euskadi, International Festival of Alicante, Résonnances, festival d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, Punto de Encuentro, Son, Musikaste, Contemporary Music Circuit of Euskadi, Ensems, and After Cage.
Main awards
International Computer Music Conference’s prize for the best European work (2008); Finalist in the Transitio International Festival of Electronic Art (Mexico).
Main collaborators
Performers:
- Soloists: Nicholas Isherwood, Norio Sato, Pilar Fontalba, Rody van Gemert, Lluïsa Espigolé
- Ensembles: Nomad Ensemble, Neopercusión, Trio Zukan, Plural Ensemble, Esemble Enigma, Ensemble Kuraia
- Conductors: Nacho de Paz, José Ramón Encinar
Dancers, choreographers:
Camille Mutel (Li(Luo) company); Bertha Bermúdez, Carmen Larraz,
Theatre, actors:
Javier Álvaro; Teatrolari Theatre School;
Visual arts:
Patxi Araujo, Nicolás Alba, José Antonio Eslava
Professional training
- Diploma of Composition in 2000 at the Paris Conservatory under the guidance of Emmanuel Nunes, Michaël Lévinas and Marc André Dalbavie, where he also worked with Gérard Grisey.
- Diploma of “Écriture” in 1999 at the Paris Conservatory, under the guidance of Jean-Claude Henri and Roger Boutry.
- Diploma of Composition in 2000 at the High Conservatory of Music of Aragón (Spain) under the direction of Teresa Catalán.
- IRCAM’s Cursus on Composition and Computer in 2004, working under the direction of Philippe Leroux and Mikhail Malt.
- Composition course of Festival d'Aix-en-Provence (France) in 1997, under the direction of Philippe Manoury.
- Composition studies with Claude Ballif from 1991 to 1994 at Municipal Music School of Sevran (region of Paris, France), where he also studied counterpoint with Marcel Bitch.
- Summer composition courses: Foundation Royaumont-Voix-Nouvelles; Centre Acanthes, Cursos de Composición de Veruela: Summer composition course of Szombathey. Main professors: Jonathan Harvey, Brian Ferneyhough, Marco Stroppa, Samuel Adler and Yuzak Sadai.
- Degree in Musichology at Paris VIII (Saint-Denis) University, working with the composer José Manuel López-López and the musichologist Guy Laurent.
Teaching
Nowadays, he teaches Composition and Orchestration at the High Conservatory of Music of Navarra, Spain.
Teaching experience in the field of composition:
- Composition and Orchestration in Conservatorio Superior de Música de Aragón, Spain (until 2022)
- Electroacoustic Composition in Conservatorio Superior de Navarra (until 2019)
- Electroacoustic Composition in Conservatorio Superior de Salamanca (until 2013)
Organising artistic events
Eslava has organised the After Cage festival in Spain since 2014, as a member of the E7.2 collective.
He has collaborated with institutions such as Instituto Cervantes, Kunitachi College of Music, Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, Museo Universidad de Navarra, Conservatorio Superior de Aragón and Museo de Navarra, intending to facilitate encounters with traditional Japanese culture and artistic creation, particularly in Spain.
For this aim, he has collaborated with artists such as composer José Manuel López-López, Takayuki Rai, Shintaro Imai, as well as with performers such as Norio Sato, Kimura Maya, Naoko Kikuchi, agrupación vocal KEA and others.
Soliloque
My music develops in "volumetric" time. This doesn't mean there isn't a discourse, but rather that it unfolds in a multidimensional space (neither linear nor unique).
A space that is both physical and acoustic, as well as virtual, understanding virtuality as a necessary condition for the emergence of the poetic.
Polyphonic virtuality (seen as an emergent state of different degrees of diffraction of the layered discourse), granulation of the material, virtuality of the sound parameters, which are defined "from each other": thus, timbre is constructed from the granulation of complex rhythmic structures and instrumental mixtures that question the identity of sound materials or instruments; thus, rhythm is constructed from timbre through the use of different instrumental materials; similarly, the identity of a vowel color or even a syllable is suggested from various intertwined points of approach, etc.
Thus, the usual limits that frame sound parameters (timbre, rhythm, harmony, space, song, etc.) are perceived rather in a liquid, extensible state, in continuous redefinition, and "volumetric" time develops in the form of a networked polyphony, a flexible matrix carrying virtual images and a "poetic differential": the spark, the aroma released by two stones when they collide (... and then the stones release themselves from the hands and return to their mother earth).
Keywords
Traditional instruments; natural materials; polyphony; virtuality; transdisciplinarity, indisciplinarity; complexity; body, space, sound; the volume of time.