Jorge Muniz was born in Meyriez, Fribourg, Switzerland in 1974. He is a graduate in Piano, Chamber music, Theory and Composition by the Conservatory of Oviedo and the Royal Conservatory of Madrid (Spain). He received his Master’s Degree in Composition at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA with a Fulbright/Fundacion Autor and Carnegie Mellon University scholarships, with Maestro Leonardo Balada, composition and Maestro Eduardo Alonso-Crespo, conducting. Currently, he is in the program of Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition at Manhattan School of Music studying with Maestro Richard Danielpour, with a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship given by Rotary Foundation and a scholarship by Manhattan School of Music.
His works have been performed in Spain, Germany, France and USA, with several orchestras: Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Asturias Symphony Orchestra, Seville Symphony Orchestra, Malaga Symphony Orchestra, Royal Conservatory of Madrid Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Mellon University Philharmonic; chamber groups: Das Scardanelli Quartett, Cámara XXI, Carnegie Mellon University Contemporary Ensemble, and conductors: Maximiano Valdes, Jan Lathan Koenig, Klaus Weise, Efrain Amaya, Ignacio Yepes, José Luis Temes, Gregorio Gutierrez, Jesús Amigo. Recordings on EMEC. In April 29th and 30th, 1999, the Symphony Orchestra of Asturias premiered his work Asturias desde la distancia, piece commissioned by the Council of the City of Oviedo for the opening of the Prince of Asturias Music Hall in that city. His String Quartet no. 3 was premiered in summer of 1999 at the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, in Brunswick, ME. In October 21st and 22nd, 1999, the Strasbourg Philharmonic, conducted by Jan Lathan Koenig, premiered in that French city the work Arche, piece winner of the First Grand Prize of the European Young Composers Competition. In November 25th, his piano concerto Persistencias was premiered in the National Music Hall, Madrid, by Cámara XXI, conducted by Maestro Ignacio Yepes and the soloist Javier Perez de Azpeitia . In February 10th and 11th, 2000, Novecento, a chamber music piece, commissioned by the Asturias Symphony Orchestra, was premiered in a Contemporary Music Festival in Spain. Performers of this orchestra, were conducted by Maestro José Luis Temes. In April 7, 2000, The Carnegie Mellon University Philharmonic premiered his work In Memoriam, dedicated to the victims of the war in Yugoslavia. During the summer of 2000, he attended to the Aspen Festival and Music School as a composer, where some of his pieces where performed in concerts. Recently, he was invited to the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florence, Italy, as a resident associate composer to work with Richard Danielpour, Mark Oswald, and Laurent Philippe on the song cycle “Rimas de Rubén Darío.”
In October 5th, 2000, the Asturias Symphony Orchestra commissioned and premiered his piece Tributo a Bach for the opening of the 2000-2001 season, dedicated to the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death.
The Conservatory of Oviedo, Spain invited him on March 2001 to conduct the first concert of the Contemporary Ensemble of that institution and give several lectures, all related to the event “Music between Centuries”, organized by that Conservatory.
He has received several awards: the City of Alcobendas Prize, the Flora Prieto Prize, the Guerrero Foundation Prize, the XV Joaquin Turina Prize, the 4th prize of Spanish Society of Authors Young Composers Competition 1997, the First Grand Prize of the European Young Composers Competition 1998 and the 2nd Prize of Carnegie Mellon University String Quartet Competition. Recently, he has won the Second Prize in the XIII Spanish Society of Authors Young Composers Competition 1999 and the H. G. Archer prize for Symphonic Composition at Carnegie Mellon University.