Bertrand Chavarria-Aldrete - Main Bio
An artist working with different approaches to sound and music: performance, composition, poetry, sculpture, theatre and visual arts.
Bertrand Chavarria-Aldrete is a classical/experimental guitarist with 3 solo albums and an international career (France, Spain, Russia, Italy, Sweden, Mexico, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Lithuania…) as a soloist and in chamber music with SMASH ensemble of which he was its artistic director (2006-2016) and regularly collaborating with ensembles such as Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Remix, Ensemble Itinéraire or Ensemble Linea.
He is regularly invited to perform at international events (Festival d’Automne à Paris, Festival Internacional Guitarra de México, Time of Music, Ars Musica, Sound 59 Festival, Quincena Musical Donostiarra…) premiering more than 90 works as a soloist and in chamber music, and recording on several occasions for the radio and labels.
His path as a composer has been recognised with two international awards: International Competition Quatuor Molinari (2019) in Canada and Neue Musik Baden-Württemberg e.V. "ad libitum” competition (2021) in Germany, and commissions from Ensemble Intercontemporain, Fondation Banque Populaire, Maison de la Musique Contemporaine, SACEM, Kulturrådet, Conarte, Festival Encontarte and performed by Ensemble Itinéraire, Juliana Steinbach, Tibi Cziger, Amia Janicki, Romain Descharmes, Mayuko Yasuda, Orchestre Française de Flûtes, Trio Zukan, Enrique Salmerón, Zoran Dukic, Éric-Maria Couturier, Naoko Hirata, himself…
Deeply interested to learn from different audiences and social marginalised sectors, he dedicates an important part of his life to compose inclusive music works and performances with special needs: (de)cor(o), the elderly: forassa, or children: sc(herz)o infinito, while conducting research and inclusive music workshops all over Europe.
In 2015 he started to explore a new practice in music performance that today is called “Plastic Extension of Music” an alternative/complementary method to perform score-based music by using materials and techniques from other art disciplines. A practice that is now part of the programmes and courses of Lund University in Sweden.
PhD in Fine arts in music performance, has been resident composer at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation and Festival Musiques en Charolais-Brionnais, he is currently teaching "Plastic Extension of Music” at Lund University, Sweden.
Bertrand Chavarria-Aldrete studied in Mexico (Gregorio Rangel, Edgar Cortés, Andrés Licéaga, Pedro Salcedo, Martín Madrigal), France (ENM d’Aulnay-sous-bois, Judicaël Perroy, Raymond Gratien, Than Hanh Nguyen, Patrick Gallois, José Luis Campana, Octavio López, Jean-Marc Zvellenreuther) Netherlands (Koninklijk Conservatorium - Zoran Dukic), Portugal (Faculdade de Belas Artes of Universidade do Porto - Fernando José Pereira, Pedro Tudela, Carlos Lima) and Sweden (Malmö Academy of Music - Lund University - Kent Olofsson, Karin Johnasson, Jan Eric Olsén).