Pedro Garcia-Velasquez
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Pedro Garcia-Velasquez (born 28 November 1984, Bogotá, Colombia) is a French-Colombian composer and co-founder of Le Balcon ensemble and BabelScores – an online library of contemporary music.[1]
Born in Bogota, Colombia, Garcia-Velasquez began his musical education through the violin at the age of seven.[2] In 2002, he started studying composition at the Pontifical Xavierian University in Bogota under the mentorship of Harold Vasquez-Castaneda. He obtained his degree in 2006. In 2007, he moved to France to continue his studies at the Conservatoire à rayonnement regional de Boulogne-Billancourt with Jean-Luc Hervé.[3] He was later admitted into the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP) in the class of Frédéric Durieux, where he graduated in 2013.[4]
In 2008, in parallel with his studies in composition, Garcia-Velasquez co-founded Le Balcon ensemble alongside pianist Alphonse Cemin, conductor Maxime Pascal, composer Juan-Pablo Carreño and sound engineer Florent Derex. In 2009, he co-founded BabaelScores, a digital music library, alongside composer Lucas Fagin.[5]
He has been an artist-in-residence at the Théâtre de l’Athénée between 2013 and 2018,[6] at the IRCAM and ZKM on 2017,[7] and at the Fondation Singer-Polignac since 2019.[8] In 2016 he received the Prix Pierre Cardin from the Académie des Beaux-Arts.[9]