Hèctor Parra

Parra's hitherto most ambitious project is the opera Les Bienveillantes, based on Jonathan Littell’s homonymous novel. Again with Calixto Bieito as director and a libretto by Klaus Händl. The opera was commissioned by the Vlaanderen Opera and premiered in Antwerpen and Gent in April and May 2019 and was extensively applauded by the public and praised by the international press.

His pieces were part of programs in concert halls such as the Philharmonie de Paris, the Konzerthaus, Vienna, the Suntory Hall Tokyo, the Auditorio Nacional de Música Madrid, the L'Auditori Barcelona, Wigmore Hall, Palau de la Música Catalana (invited composer in 2015 and 2016), Nouveau Siècle Lille (where he was resident composer in 2017 and 2018) and opera houses such as Opera Vlaanderen, Berlin State Opera, the Theater Freiburg, Staatsoper Stuttgart and the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

His music was performed at international festivals such as Lucerne Festival, Avignon Festival, Agora Festival of IRCAM (Paris), Royaumont, Centre Acanthes, Forum Neues Musiktheater of the Stuttgart Opera House, Novart de Bordeaux, ADK Berlin, Quincena Musical de San Sebastián, Nous Sons Barcelona, Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ (Amsterdam), Philharmonie Luxembourg, Warsaw Autumn, Wien Modern, Acht Brücken (Cologne), Donaueschingen Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (he was the resident composer in 2013), ISCM-World Music Days 2015, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Festival Présences de Radio France, Manifesto of IRCAM-Center Pompidou, Musikprotokoll / Steirischer Herbst, KLANG (Helsinki), Traiettorie Parma, Ars Musica (Brussels), Festival Archipel (Geneva), Granada International Festival, Quincena Musical de San Sebastián or the Rainy Days Festival.

Around 2013 literature become a new major source of inspiration and material for Parra. Several operas, adapting novels or plays into libretti, have been created since. The opera Das geopferte Leben with a libretto by Marie NDiaye was premiered by the Freiburger Barockorchester and the ensemble recherche at the Munich Biennale in 2014. In the succeeding year the opera Wilde was premiered at the Schwetzingen Festival, with Calixto Bieito as director and a libretto by Klaus Händl.

Parra's works are published by Durand/Universal Music Publishing Classical (Paris) and by Tritó Edicions (Barcelona) (works until 2010).

In 2006, theoretical physics, astronomy and evolutionary biology became a source of inspiration for Parra. He transferred theories from theoretical physicist Lisa Randall, astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Luminet or organic chemist and molecular biologist Graham Cairns-Smith into musical processes, leading him to small chamber pieces, orchestra pieces and eventually also to his opera Hypermusic Prologue based on a libretto by Lisa Randall. Further exemplary pieces referring to such theories are: Inscape, Early life, Stress Tensor, Mineral Life, Caressant l'horizon, InFALL, or ...limite les rêves au-delà.

Born in Barcelona, Parra completed his studies with Carles Guivoart, David Padrós and Maria Jesús Crespo at the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona with an award in composition and a distinction in piano. After also graduating in choral conducting, he studied orchestra conducting with Arturo Tamayo at the University of Alcalá. He continued his composition studies with Michael Jarrell at the Geneva University of Music in 2005–2006, and with Jonathan Harvey, Brian Ferneyhough, Beat Furrer and Philippe Manoury at IRCAM, Royaumont foundation academy, Centre Acanthes (France) and Takefu (Japan). He was selected for studying composition and computer music at IRCAM (2002–2003) with Mikhail Malt and Philippe Leroux. He earned a master's degree in Sciences and Technology of Art from the Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis under the supervision of Horacio Vaggione in 2005. Beside music, he studied painting and drawing at Francesco Miñarro's studio in Barcelona. Between 2005 and 2012 he was a professor of Electroacoustic composition at the Conservatory of Music of Aragon between 2013 and 2017 he was composition professor at IRCAM. He has also been member of several juries in international competitions such as Concours international de piano d'Orléans 2017 and Geneva International Music Competition 2019.

Hèctor Parra i Esteve (born 17 April 1976) is a Spanish composer. Since 2002 he lives in Paris.