He studied composition with José Luis de Delás at the Music School of the University of Alcalá de Henares. He furthered his training by attending seminars, workshops, and short courses at the same institution, working with composers, performers, and musicologists such as Salvatore Sciarrino, Helmut Lachenmann, Brian Ferneyhough, Mauricio Kagel, Matthias Spahlinger, Klaus Huber, Georg Friedrich Haas, Siegfried Palm, Shima Aaron, Walter Levin, Heinz-Klaus Metzger, Rainer Riehn, Walter Zimmermann, Jürg Wyttenbach, Herman Sabbe, and Manuel Hidalgo. He also studied with Tristan Murail at the CGAC. He participated in and attended workshops, seminars, and courses on computer music and electroacoustic music at the LIEM with Emiliano del Cerro and Charles Dodge. He studied Philosophy at the UNED, earning a degree in the subject. For two years, he taught at a Higher Conservatory of Music, instructing a course titled “Fundamentals of Electroacoustic Composition and Computer Music.”
He has published a book, Towards an Aesthetics of Cognitive-Parametric Music, in which he presents and describes the compositional techniques he has developed. He has presented and published various papers at international conferences. The composers who have most influenced him are Luigi Nono, Morton Feldman, and Gérard Grisey. His primary sources of extra-musical inspiration include existential philosophy, the literature of the absurd, and critical theory, as well as cognitive sciences.
Parametric Neutralizations Studies (2001)Premier recording
His music has been presented in countries such as the USA, Slovenia, Korea, China, Austria, Canada, Argentina, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Bolivia, Australia, Japan, Russia, Mexico, and Germany. It has been featured primarily at international computer music conferences—such as the International Computer Music Conference—and at international festivals, including the New York City Electroacoustic Festival and the Bled International Contemporary Musical Week.
His work can be divided into several parts.
The pre-parametric phase, which begins with the work End Game (1996), is characterized by the neutralization of parameters through cognitive models. This ensures that flows of tension are conditioned by these models. For example, in End Game (1996), the use of cognitive models allows moments of relaxation to occur within the clusters that are most dissonant in terms of material properties. During this stage, he also begins to seek ways to detach sound materials from their meanings. He initiates his first acousmatic works, with Sound Stains (2001) being the most significant piece of this period. During this period, he explores the possibilities of dissonancing more properties of the materials than pitches.
2007 short version featuring the original paintings by Miguel Rubio.
- In the analysis of the play End game, these techniques are explained: https://archive.org/details/fpart
In the parametric phase—which begins with the orchestral work Parametric Neutralization Studies (2001) – the procedures developed in the previous stage are generalized and formalized more systematically. Parametric music is created through the generalization of parameter neutralization, the use of formal structures based on parametric modulations, the employment of the parameter concept as the primary sonic material, and the total absence of parametric centers. Musical tension is decoupled from the properties of the materials and is created entirely within the act of listening. This tension does not depend on material properties, but rather on the expectations that are established and the degree to which they are fulfilled. The most significant works of this period are his three Estudios (Studies), particularly Parametric Formalizations Studies (2011).
Recording of the premiere of Parametric Formalizations Studies in Ljubljana on October 28, 2023, at Cankarjev Dom. The concert was produced and organized by the .abeceda Institute.
- In his book, written during this period, he presents his ideas and techniques: Towards an Aesthetics of Cognitive-Parametric Music.
The cognitive-parametric phase delves into the application of insights from cognitive science and neuroscience to ensure that musical tension is experienced from the listener’s perspective. During this period, the composer investigates cognitive dissonance and intrasensory synesthesia, focusing on how the perception of one parameter influences others—thereby establishing the concept of intrasensory synesthesia—and applies this to various works. In this phase, generative systems based on their research algorithms are created, enabling the algorithmic generation of forms rooted in cognitive-parametric music on a computer. The focus during this time is primarily on acousmatic music; key works include Cognitive Dissonance (2013) and Three Chants for Computer (2014). It is also during this period that the music begins to be selected for festivals and conferences, and the composer starts writing academic papers. The selection and premiere of Three Chants for Computer (2014) at the SID Conference in New York mark the beginning of an international career
Cognitive Dissonance (2013)
With Horror Vacui (2017), generative systems based on the parametric algorithms created in the previous phase interact with the musicians. They employ the concept of gamifying creativity to create collaborative and interactive works. Horror Vacui and Collaborametrum (2018) are among the most significant works. Each of these works explores a hybrid system between the instrumentalists and the generative system. In Horror Vacui (2017), the sopranos compose the work in real time through their movements, which are captured by sensors. At this stage, the works are conceived as collaborative games in which, cyclically, the performers react to the music through movement or collaboration; the music reacts to the movement. In the work Collaborametrum, (2018), a machine learning system is trained to recognize collaborative patterns among the musicians and convert them into a metric that is used to feed a parametric music generator.
Horror Vacui premiere in Sankt Pölten.
Circularity scheme of the work Collaborametrum(2018).
In this stage, he developed an event-oriented real-time notation system, being one of the world’s pioneers in the development of real-time digital notation systems.
Mobile app where musicians receive the live-notation events Collaborametrum (2018)
- His most significant paper is Artificial Computational Creativity based on Collaborative Intelligence (2020)
Public stage (2023): premiere of the work at the ICMC 2023 in Shenzhen
In an organic and natural way, collaborative games expand and integrate real-time audience feedback into their works. At this stage, the concert hall becomes a listening laboratory, investigating how participation as a listener in the real-time creation of the work influences the listening experience. When the Self of Us Becomes Ours (2025) is the first in this series of works to premiere in Beijing at the Tenor 2025 conference. The Humanity as a Sensory System(2026) for two sopranos and instrumental ensemble was created in real time through feedback from attendees.
Estreno de When the self of Us Becomes Ours (2025)
Circular scheme between the evaluation of the work and the generative system
Organically and naturally, collaborative games are developed, including the attendees’ participation in the co-creation of the music. During this stage, a web environment is created for the participation of concert attendees. Through this application, concert attendees can evaluate the performance in real time. The system is responsible for sending the evaluations to the generative system, which will use them to make changes based on the feedback. If the evaluations are positive, the generative system remains the same; otherwise, it changes.
Web app where attendees evaluate the work Humanity as a Sensory System (2026)
- His most significant paper is Artificial Taxonomy of listening tensioning based on cognitive dissonance. (2024)
Fernando Egido 