Carlos Sandoval - Biography and Work

Biography and Work

Born in an archetypal "barrio" in Mexico city's downtown, Carlos Sandoval was used to deal with harrowing, extreme social and cultural situations already from his childhood, a fact to be later reflected in his work. He has lived mainly in Mexico City (1956–64), Cuernavaca City (1964–78 and 1983-03), New York City (1979), Vienna, Austria (1980–82), Los Angeles CA (1983) and Berlin, Germany (2003- ). He is also a German citizen since 2009. Dissident at the Escuela Nacional de Música UNAM 1976-79 (classical guitar and composition) studied later composition, analysis and theory privately with Julio Estrada (1985–90). He assisted also to several courses and private sessions with Brian Ferneyhough, Joji Yuasa, Peter Garland, Lorenc Barber, Leo Brower, François Bernard Mâche, James Tenney, Stefano Scodanibio, Iannis Xenakis and Conlon Nancarrow. Nevertheless, he is one of the few active Mexican composers of his generation that did not studied in Europe or the United States and does not have an academic degree in composition. Later he studied indeed in Europe: Piano tuning and building at the Bösendorfer Klavier Fabrik in Vienna (1980–82). These studies ("and not the Vienna School") changed his vision about music in general. As photo and videographer he studied with Fabri (Austria), Sirgo (Mexico) and Fathi (Berlin). His work has been premiered or exposed mostly in Germany but also in Mexico, France, UK and The Netherlands. He has been fellow of the SNCA (the highest Mexican Government recognition for Mexican artists) since 1999 with no interruption. He has been invited to countless activities and contemporary music festivals like Donaueschingen Musik Tage (1994, Germany), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (2009, UK, festival´s highlight) and the Darmstadt Summer Courses (1990) in Germany, among others. He writes articles and essays on music and lately has been focused in the joint of music and video, "Lips" being his last piece.