Miguel Farías
composer
About this Artist
Composer and PhD in Latin American Studies, Miguel Farías (b. 1983) studied in Chile, Switzerland, and France.
He is the winner of several international prizes and beneficiary of commissions and residences in Chile and Europe, including Injuve, 2007 (Spain); Luis Advis, 2007 (Chile); Frederic Mompou (Barcelona, Spain); Joan Guinjoan, 2013 (Barcelona, Spain); Manuel Valcarcel, 2013 (Santander, Spain); the sponsorship prize at the BMW Musica Viva competition of the Bavarian Radio (Munich, Germany); and he was a laureate of the Isang Yun Music Prize, 2007 (Korea); Tactus, 2008 (Belgium); the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition, 2009 (Belgium); and the Reina Sofía (Spain), among others. He was a finalist in the “Composer Project” and “Roche Commissions” programs of the Lucerne Festival, with Pierre Boulez as a member of the jury.
In June 2012, Farías won the 2012 “Art Critics” Prize in the National Opera category and the National Arts Prize “Altazor” in 2013, for his opera Renca, París y Liendres, premiered by the Chilean Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, his second opera, El Cristo de Elqui, was premiered by the Chilean National Opera at the Municipal de Santiago, directed for the stage by Jorge Lavelli. In 2019, he won the Beaux-Arts Chilean Academy prize for the premiere of this opera.
In recent years, Farías has received commissions from Radio France, the Chilean National Ballet, the Ensemble Vortex, Ibermúsicas, the Ensemble Contemporáneo UC, the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, the Municipal de Santiago, and the Fundación de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles (FOJI), among others. During 2021/22, he is composer- and researcher-in-residence in Buenos Aires, with the CEAMC Foundation and 4'33", which involves research on contemporary Latin American opera and the creation of a new opera to be premiered in 2023. In 2022, his works are being premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra, among other orchestras and ensembles.
In December 2019, the Austrian label KAIROS released the first CD retrospective of music by Miguel Farías. His works are published by Universal Edition, Vienna.
Since 2018, Miguel Farías teaches at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He is composer-in-residence at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.