Alberto Hortigüela

Alberto Hortigüela studied Composition in Salamanca with Alejandro Yagüe and in Alcalá de Henares with José Luis de Delás. He later moved to Germany to attend the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst Stuttgart (HfMdK Stuttgart), where he studied with Marco Stroppa and Caspar Johannes Walter, obtaining the Künstlerische Ausbildung (KA) and Solistenklasse diplomas. At this institution, he served as a tutor in the Composition Department between 2003 and 2005. In parallel, he taught several seminars and took part in courses with composers such as Helmut Lachenmann, Manuel Hidalgo, Klaus Huber, Salvatore Sciarrino, Brian Ferneyhough, and Mauricio Kagel, among others. He was awarded a fellowship from the Arts Foundation of Baden-Württemberg in 2005 and from the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid in 2008. In 2009, he received a prize at the “ad libitum” composition competition in Stuttgart. He has also taught Counterpoint and Analysis at the Conservatorio Superior de Castilla y León (COSCYL).

Several of his works have been commissioned by different institutions and premiered by ensembles such as the SWR Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Heidelberg, Aleph Gitarrenquartett, SMASH Ensemble, Ensemble Phorminx, Ensemble cross.art, and Trio vis-à-vis, among others. Some of his works are available on recordings, including die Sprache ist die Strafe (Aleph Gitarrenquartett Vol. II) and tres Tientos de Antonio de Cabezón (Carpere fides). His piece Gran Trinidad de la Alegría was published in issue no. 16 of the music journal Quodlibet, and Aleph-omega-aleph was recently released by the publisher Verlag Neue Musik (WNM).

Doctoral Project

Title
From Game to Art: Adapting Chess to Composition

Advisor
Sara Carvalho

Abstract
This work aims to use the mathematics intrinsic to elements and characteristics of chess as the basis for the structural treatment of a musical composition. The compositional method adopted seeks to remain as faithful as possible to the mechanics of chess move order, drawing on different models of situations that occur in the game or derive from it: real matches, chess problems, basic checkmates, and related mathematical problems. The outcome of this research is the creation of works based on various chess examples, in which the structural elements of the music were derived in different ways. Each work represents an autonomous approach to adapting the mathematical material extracted into the sonic domain, constituting a particular case within a general method of artistic creation based on chess.

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