Pedro Alcalde facts for kids

Pedro Alcalde (born in Barcelona, 1959) is a Spanish composer, conductor, musicologist, and pianist. He is known for creating music for dance, theater, and films. He has worked with famous orchestras and dance companies around the world.

Pedro Alcalde's Early Life and Education

Pedro Alcalde was born in Barcelona, Spain. He started learning music at a young age, studying piano, flute, and violin. He also studied composition, which is the art of creating music.

He went to the University of Barcelona and earned a degree in Philosophy in 1982. Later, he continued his studies in the United States, getting a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in New York in 1984. He then moved to Germany and earned a Ph.D. in Musicology and Philosophy from the Free University of Berlin in 1988.

Pedro Alcalde's Conducting Career

Pedro Alcalde also became a skilled conductor, which means he leads orchestras and musicians. From 1988 to 1990, he studied orchestral conducting in Vienna, Austria.

He worked at the Vienna State Opera as an assistant conductor. He helped with famous operas like Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro. He also worked with the Vienna Philharmonic and later the Berlin Philharmonic, two very famous orchestras. He assisted the well-known conductor Claudio Abbado.

Since then, Pedro Alcalde has traveled the world, both composing new music and conducting orchestras.

Conducting for Dance and Film

In 1998, Pedro Alcalde conducted the first performance of Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Theatre in Madrid. He worked with the Spanish National Dance Company (CND) and choreographer Nacho Duato. He became the musical director for CND and stayed in that role until 2010. During this time, he conducted many different types of music for their performances.

He also conducted music for the film The Dancer Upstairs, directed by John Malkovich. The music was composed by Alberto Iglesias. This film won an award for its soundtrack at the 2002 Venice Film Festival.

In 2005, Pedro Alcalde conducted the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra at the Sónar Festival. He worked with electronic music artists like Richie Hawtin. Since 2015, he has regularly conducted performances for the Berlin State Ballet at the Berlin State Opera.

Pedro Alcalde's Compositions

Pedro Alcalde is also a talented composer. He mainly writes music for performances like dance, theater, and films. For the past 20 years, he has focused on creating music for contemporary dance.

He has worked closely with choreographer Nacho Duato, composing twelve ballets that have been performed all over the world. One of his recent ballets, Erde, premiered in Berlin in 2017. It explored themes related to the Anthropocene, which is about how humans impact the Earth.

In 2019, his work Douces/Julia premiered in Germany. In 2022, Morgen; was performed by the Spanish National Dance Company in Spain. He also composed Infinito for the theater company La Fura dels Baus. This piece for orchestra and tape was based on the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus.

In 2013, he composed music for a multimedia opera called El Somni. This project included an exhibition, a book, and a movie. The film was shown at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival in 2014.

Where His Music Has Been Performed

Pedro Alcalde's music has been performed in many famous places around the world. These include:

• The Berlin State Opera
• The Royal Theater in Madrid
• The Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris
• The New York City Center
• The Sydney Lyric Theatre in Australia
• The Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona

Teaching and Other Projects

Pedro Alcalde is a founding member of the Nonoprojekt in Berlin. This project aims to inspire young people to think about freedom, democracy, and tolerance through music.

He has also taught music at universities. He was a Guest Professor of Composition at Barcelona´s Catalonia College of Music (ESMUC) in 2013. He also taught at Madrid's University Carlos III School of the Arts from 2009 to 2015. Since 2019, he teaches Sound Installation at the University of Barcelona.

Selected Works by Pedro Alcalde

Here are some of the musical works Pedro Alcalde has created:

Music for Dance

• Herrumbre (2004)
• Diecisiete (2005)
• Alas (2006)
• Hevel (2007)
• Cobalto (2009)
• Jardín Infinito (2010)
• Rust (2013)
• Depak Ine Final Scene (2014)
• Static Time (2015)
• Erde (2017)
• Deuces/Julia (2019)
• Morgen; (2022)

Music for Theatre

• ∞ - Infinito (2005)

Music for Film

• Circuit (2010)
• La Distancia (2014)
• Je te tiens (2019)

Sound Installations

• FM (2003)
• Immersion (2009)
• Limestone (2009)
• Maragall´s Room (2011)
• El Somni - Act 2 (2013)
• Vall d'Hebron (2018)
• Paraíso (IN)habitado (2018)
• L'Ange du Méridien (2020)

See also

In Spanish: Pedro Alcalde para niños