Juan Manuel Abras


Juan Manuel Abras Contel is a classical music composer, conductor, musicologist and historian from Sweden. Born in Stockholm to a European family that moved around the world, Abras became a cosmopolitan artist and scientist.

Background and education

Juan Manuel Abras was born in Stockholm, spent his childhood in Geneva and Madrid, his adolescence in Buenos Aires, Venice and Bilbao, and his youth in Vienna and Kraków. His education, which includes two PhD doctorates and a dozen of academic degrees, was received in Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Argentina while living with his parents, his father being a diplomat. As composer, Abras was a student of Krzysztof Penderecki, Kurt Schwertsik and Roberto García Morillo, he also studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Helmut Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Alexander Müllenbach, etc. and attended the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, the Mozarteum University Salzburg, the Academy of Music in Kraków, the IRCAM of Paris, the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia, etc., taking part in courses, workshops and completing completing graduate and postgraduate studies. As conductor, Abras was a student of Leopold Hager, Ervin Acél, Guillermo Scarabino, etc., he also studied with Michael Gielen, Dominique Fanal, etc., and attended the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, the 'Manuel de Falla' Superior Conservatory of Music of Buenos Aires, the Berlin State Opera, etc. taking part in courses, internships and completing graduate and postgraduate studies. As musicologist and historian, Abras pursued a PhD Doctorate in Musicology a Master in Hispanic Music, a Licenciate and a Bachelor in History and numerous seminaries and courses. As pianist, Abras began his studies with his mother, he continued them with Giovanni Umberto Battel, Luis Fernando Barandiarán, Ana Litovsky-Grünwald, Elizabeth Fiocca, etc. and attended the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia, the Municipal Superior Conservatory of Music of San Sebastián, the Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga Conservatory of Bilbao, the Carlos López Buchardo National Conservatory of Music, etc., completing his studies while also studying violin, clarinet and harpsichord.

Career and awards

in France has pointed out that Juan Manuel Abras is one of the European composers who "represent a good portion of the Europe of the new music" and, at the same time, music criticism in Buenos Aires has considered him "a genuine representative of Argentine music". In Germany, Genuin classics has highlighted "the breathless intensity of Juan Manuel Abras" and within the French musicological field it has been stated that "variety is also found in his musical language", a language that contains "a unity, by nature inaudible, which is realised each time through the different styles", maintaining that in his works "there are, apart from the psychoanalysis references to literature, religion, archaeology, etc.". The Spanish academic field has gathered that Abras' music is "cosmopolitan and multifaceted, in search of a balance between emotion and reason, a dialogue between past and future, tending towards the Absolute" and that "it contains influences from the composers with whom he studied, such as Penderecki, Stockhausen, Lachenmann and Rihm, equally nourishing from concepts such as anamnesis, union of the opposites, numinosity, ekphrasis and intertextuality". The inner unity in its deep structure manifests itself through varied surface structures and can use new technologies, contain references ranging from theology to biology and incorporate into classical music elements of folklore, as well as sounds produced by living beings". For example, according to musical criticism in Finland, during the Finnish premiere of his musical composition The song of Anna O., Abras "took the listener to a world of rhythmically pulsating fantasy, similar to a haunted castle". And, according to Polish musical criticism, in his musical piece Chacarera beatboxera, "Abras united in a whole elements taken from ethnic music, ancient popular melodies and New Music, creating a dancing whirlwind somewhat trance-like, full of sunny joy and amusement". In the United States, when referring to Abras, the press pointed out the "mastery of the composer also as a skillful orchestrator" and in the cultural sphere of Buenos Aires it has been stated that "his encyclopedic culture has allowed him to articulate a cosmopolitan horizon".
Juan Manuel Abras has created a hundred musical compositions , which have been performed at a dozen international festivals: Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Festival MANCA, Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, Musiikin aika - Time of Music, Ördögkatlan Fesztivál, Piano City Milano, Festival Internacional Discantus, International Festival of Krakow Composers, Le Printemps des Poètes, Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez, Festival Dni Bachowskie, Festival Instrumenta, etc. Those works have been performed at a hundred venues throughout the world: International Mozarteum Foundation, Teatro Colón, Bimhuis-Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Filharmonia Łódzka im. Artura Rubinsteina, Kunstquartier Bethanien Berlin, Théâtre Dunois in Paris, Columbia University, Balassi Institute, St James's Church, Piccadilly, Longoria Palace, International Research and Information Centre 'Thracica', Nádasdy Ferenc Múzeum, Conservatorio Luisa D'Annunzio, York University, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Summart Arts Center, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Kirchner Cultural Centre, Academy of Music in Krakow, Hellerau - Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Dresden, California State University, Fundación Museo Jorge Oteiza, Associazione Cultura e Musica G. Curci, Universtiy of Ottawa, Museo Nacional de Arte, Altes Rathaus Vienna, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, National Museum Kraków, Kulturrathaus Dresden, University of Missouri, Conservatorio Superior de Música de Navarra, Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca, Palais Pálffy, etc. His current discography features works included in 11 CDs published in Germany, France, United Kingdom, Austria, Poland and Argentina.
Throughout his career, Juan Manuel Abras has won numerous awards and scholarships: TRINAC Prize 2017, TRINAC Mention 2014, Grafimuse Prize, 2nd Wiener Filmmusikpreis, Sibelius Chamber Orchestra Bicentenario Mention, TRINAC Prize 2008, Fundacja Argentynska Scholarship, Beca 'Directorio' del Fondo Nacional de las Artes, In Memoriam Erich Kleiber Scholarship, Theodor Körner Prize, 2nd Franz Josef Reinl-Stiftung Prize, TRINAC 2002 and TRIMARG 2002 Mentions, CSMMF Gold Medal Award both in musical composition and orchestral conducting, etc.

Professional and teaching positions

Juan Manuel Abras has worked as composer in residence, as well as guest composer and commissioned composer, within the frame of activities held by: 51. Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, Ensemble Aleph - 4th International Forum for Young Composers, Fundacja Argentynska, XIII Laboratory of Contemporary Music, International Forum for Culture and Business, etc. A member of the Austrian Composers' Society, Spanish Musicology Society, Musimagen and SADAIC, Abras has been appointed chief conductor, assistant conductor and artistic director of several Argentine orchestras, participating in the dissemination of Argentine music and Ibero-American music as composer, conductor, pianist and concert series organizer, also working as arranger, orchestrator, music engraver, score preparator and music copyist. In Argentina, Juan Manuel Abras also worked as Professor at the National University of Lanús in the Buenos Aires Province, as Professor at the Astor Piazzolla Superior Conservatory of Music of the City of Buenos Aires and as Invited Member at the Carlos Vega Institute of Musicological Research-UCA.

Selected compositions