Jesús Torres

Jesús Torres was born in Saragossa on 15 July 1965 of Andalusian descent, and lives in Madrid since he was ten years old. Born into a family with a long musical tradition, he started learning the violin with his uncle José Torres and later entered the Conservatorio Superior de Música of Madrid where he received his academic background. He studied composition privately with Francisco Guerrero from 1986 to 1988. His catalogue expands for over hundred works and includes twenty orchestral works and numerous works of chamber music for the most varied types of ensembles. A special interest of his is setting texts to music, above all the poetry of Vicente Aleixandre, alongside that of other literary figures including San Juan de la Cruz, Jorge Manrique, Santa Teresa de Jesús, Góngora, Lope de Vega, Quevedo, Rubén Darío, Juan Ramón Jiménez, García Lorca, Miguel Hernández, Juan Eduardo Cirlot, Leopoldo Panero, Antonio Carvajal, Fermín Cabal and Alejandro Duque Amusco.

His pieces have been performed in numerous countries at festivals and in concert series, including at the Venice Biennale, Wiener Konzerthaus, Musica 99 Strasbourg, Lucerne Festival, Musikfestspiele Saar, Ars Musica Brussels, Prèsences 2000 of Radio France, Gare du Nord Basel, Ultraschall Berlin, Konzert Theater Bern, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Khumo Festival, Quincena Donostiarra, Festival Transart, Festival de Marvão, Schwetzinger Festspiele, the SIMC Festival in Copenhagen and Bucharest, Festival de Alicante, the UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers (2001 and 2008), PRIX Italia, Música de Hoy, Time of Music of Vitassari, Festival Spaziomusica in Cagliari, the Mostly Modern Series in Dublin, the Royal Academy in London, Gaudeamus Music Week, Festival Manca in Nice, Ibermúsica, Prague Premieres 2008, Sound Ways Festival St. Petersburg, Festival Puentes de México, Festival Latinoamericano de Caracas, etc. He has received commissions from both private and public institutions including: INAEM (Spanish Ministry of Culture), Fundación BBVA, Siemens Stiftung, the Gaudeamus Foundation (Amsterdam), the Kaleidoscope Programme (of the EU), the Comunidad of Madrid, the Colegio de España in Paris, The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, the Aula de Música in Alcalá de Henares, the Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Fundación Canal, the "Cadaqués Orchestra" Conducting Competition, the Spanish National Orchestra, the Nacional Youth Orchestra of Spain, Institut Valencià de la Música, the Basque Government Department of Culture, Cameralia 2007, O.R.C.A.M., the Teatro de la Zarzuela, FestClásica, Semana de Música Religiosa de Cuenca, Fundación Hazen Hosseschrueders, Fundación Siglo, Fundación SGAE, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Program for Cultural Cooperation (University of Minnesota), Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales (SECC), etc. He has also received commissions from numerous performers.

His music has been performed by important ensembles as the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Wiener Klaviertrio, Quatuor Diotima, Brodsky String Quartet, Notos Quartett, Ensemble Köln, Trío Arbós, Plural Ensemble or Sigma Project, and conductors as Gianandrea Noseda, Gustavo Gimeno, Vasily Petrenko, Clemens Schuldt, Juanjo Mena, Paul Daniel, Ari Rasilainen, Rossen Milanov, Pablo González, Jaime Martín or Josep Pons, among many others, have conducted their works with numerous orchestras.

He has been the recipient of various awards, including that of the SGAE (Madrid, 1992), of Gaudeamus (Amsterdam, 1995), the Valentino Bucchi Award (Rome, 1997), the Reina Sofía Award (Barcelona, 1999), The Millennium Chamber Players (Chicago, 2008), the National Music Award 2012 and the AEOS-BBVA Foundation Award 2015.

Composer in Residence:
Joven Orquesta Nacional de España. 1998-99 Season
Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias (OSPA), 2016/2017 Season
Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical (CNDM), Spanish Ministry of Culture. 2017/18 Season
Orquesta Sinfónica Ciudad de Zaragoza. 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 Seasons
Since 2002, all of his compositions have been published by Editorial Tritó in Barcelona.
Many of his works have been recorded for the Naxos, Kairos, IBS Classical and Tritó labels.