Manuel López Jorge

Composer, pianist and researcher from Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain). Manuel holds a PhD in composition from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where he was guided by American composer Stephen Montague. He is also a former student of Spanish composer Antón García-Abril, with whom he studied for over ten years. His thesis, entitled Imagery and the Composition of Music, gives an insight into Manuel’s compositional process, which is inspired on mental imagery, and contextualizes it into a philosophical and epistemological framework. He is often inspired in extra-musical materials, using these from different perspectives which deeply affect the planning of harmony, rhythm and structure. As a composer, Manuel has collaborated with dozens of musicians. He loves working very close to the performer in a symbiotic manner. Chamber music groups that have performed his music are the Fidelio Trio, DecArt Ensemble, Duo Finisterrae or Todorova-Gurkova duo, among many others. Manuel ́s music has been broadcast live in the Spanish National Radio with great success from the critic. Recently, the contemporary music festival Xornadas de Música Contemporánea dedicated a whole concert to his music which included his most recent compositions and the world premiere of Dúas vidas respiran xuntas (Two lives breathe together), an experimental piece for two violin and piano duos which can be performed together or separately, each of them representing a different level of biological existence.

As a pianist, Manuel has performed in various countries and has been awarded numerous prizes in international competitions. He has appeared both as soloist and chamber musician in some of the most prestigious venues in London including St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Steinway Hall, St James-Piccadilly and the Royal Albert Hall Elgar Room. In 2017 he premiered his second piano sonata Espiral vermella (Red Spiral) in a recital at St. Martin-in-the- Fields in front of a full audience. He is an avid chamber musician, a fact that led him to be a founder member of stable chamber music groups such as the Golden Piano Trio, Duo Stellae and Quiroga Duo. His chamber music activity was recognised with several first prizes in competitions in the UK and in Spain. Trinity Laban Conservatoire, in recognision to his chamber music career, awarded him with the John Thompson prize and the Byram Jeejeebjoy prize in two occasions. Manuel is also president of the Galician Chamber Music Society “Airas Nunes”, which every summer curates the international chamber music course and festival “Airas Nunes Aula de Cámara” in Santiago de Compostela.