Helga Arias

Biography

Helga Arias (Bilbao, Spain) started her composition studies at the RCSM Victoria Eugenia of Granada. She moved to Italy thanks to a scholarship to study composition with Mario Garuti and Javier Torres Maldonado at the Conservatorio G. Verdi of Milan and then went to Parma, to conclude her studies in composition and computer music with Torres Maldonado.
Between 2014 and 2016 she continued her education in Austria thanks to a full scholarship of the SGAE (Spanish General Society for authors and publishers) with Beat Furrer (Kuntsuniversität Graz) and Karlheinz Essl (Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien), obtaining both a Postgrad in Composition and in Computer Music with the highest marks.

Besides, she has received individual lessons from other composers such as Michael Jarrell, Kaija Saariaho, J.B. Barrière, Georg Friedrich Haas, Pierluigi Billone, Isabel Mundry, Mark André, Toshio Hosokawa, Chaya Czernowin or Alberto Posadas among others and participated in masterclasses with Helmuth Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Philippe Manoury, José María Sánchez Verdú, Trevor Wishart or Daniel Teruggi.

She has been awarded in the international contest “Città di Udine”, the RCSM Victoria Eugenia de Granada contest for Symphonic Orchestra, the shut up and listen! Electroacustic festival in Vienna, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik Competition 2014, the honorary prize of the Colegio de España en Paris – INAEM 2016, the 2nd prize at the ACC International Composer's Competition (South Korea) or the 3rd prize at the Asia Pacific Saxophone Composition Competition.

Her music has been performed in several festivals and music halls around the world, such as the Fundacion BBVA, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Manifeste Paris, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, EMUFEST Rome, Klangwerkstatt Berlin, Festival Mixtur in Barcelona, Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva (Mexico), Domaine Forget (Canada), Echoraum Vienna, Experimentalstudio Academy of the SWR Freiburg, 3rd Forum for Young Composers in Cascais (Portugal), SCM 2017 Helsinki, ICMC 2017 Shangai, ISCM World Music Days in Tongyeong (South Korea), ZKM Karlsruhe (Germany), Musikfestival Bern, Sonic Matter Festival (Zurich), Philarmonie Luxembourg by ensembles such as International Contemporary Ensemble, Neue Vocalsolisten Sttutgart, Ensemble Inercontemporain, Ensemble SurPlus, International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA), Ensemble Vortex, Sigma Project, Trio Feedback, Espai Sonor, Ensemble d’arts, The Riot Ensemble, Vertixe Sonora, Nouvelle Ensemble Moderne, ECCE ensemble, Taller Sonoro, Ensemble Cepromusic, and many others.

In 2020/21 she was artist in residency by the International Contemporary Ensemble and composer in residence as part of an intermediation Project of the University of Heidelberg, the Bundesakademie Trossingen and the Donaueschinger Musiktagen.
She is currently a PhD candidate at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität Linz (Austria).