Gabriel Bolaños

Gabriel Bolaños is a Nicaraguan-American composer of solo, chamber, orchestral and electronic music. He holds a PhD in composition from UC Davis and a BA from Columbia University. His principal composition teachers include Mika Pelo, Pablo Ortiz, Fabien Lévy and Sebastian Currier, and he studied orchestration with Tristan Murail. He likes to write music that explores unusual timbres and structures, and is interested in computer-assisted-composition, auditory perception and linguistics. His recent music engages with theories of ecological listening: how our sense of hearing evolved primarily to interpret our environment. He enjoys listening to music by Harvey, Ligeti, Grisey, Cerha, Romitelli, Messiaen, Os Mutantes, Sabicas and Bach.

Bolaños currently lives in Granada, Nicaragua with his wife Megan. As a 2016 Fulbright Visiting Scholar, he is composer-in-residence for the Rubén Darío Youth Orchestra, and visiting professor at the UPOLI Conservatory of Music. He is co-founder and artistic director of Proyecto Eco, Nicaragua’s first new-music ensemble. As a member of the Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío’s international committee, he has helped organize artistic and cultural exchanges between US and Nicaraguan musicians. Beyond his work as a teacher and composer of concert music, he has also written music for film, theater and dance, and has experience performing as a flamenco dance accompanist. For more information, visit gabrielbolanos.com.