Bio
Diego Ramos Rodríguez is a composer, violinist and performer working in the fields of concert, film, theatre, performance and multimedia. His compositions have been performed throughout Europe, the USA, Kazakhstan and Japan by formations such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO), the Ensemble Modern, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Spanish National Youth Orchestra or the Ensemble Garage, have won several awards, broadcast on radio (HR, SWR, SRF, Deutschlandfunk, RNE Spain) and recorded on CD. In 2023, a radio portrait of his multi-faceted work was broadcasted in WDR3-Tonart.
His music for the film The Universal Theory (Timm Kröger, 2023) was celebrated worldwide and highly praised by magazines such as Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Screen Daily, The Guardian, Financial Times and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The film won the Independent Critics' Prize (Bisato d'Oro) at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, the Prix du Public and Prix du Jury at L'Étrange Festival (Paris), the Prix du Jury at Utopiales (Nantes) and the Premio de la Crítica at the Festival de Cine Fantástico y de Terror (Sitges) among others. The music was awarded the Prize of the German Critics Association (Preis der Deutschen Filmkritik 2023) and was nominated for the LOLA (Deutscher Filmpreis) and the Austrian Film Awards. At the moment it is being screened all over the world.
He has been a guest composer at Ultima Oslo, Manifeste IRCAM (Paris), Slowind Spring (Ljubljana), Fundación Juan March (Madrid), cresc...Biennale (Frankfurt, Ensemble Modern), Takefu International Music Festival (Japan), Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Utrecht) and Wortklangraum (Bonn). In 2018 he had a portrait concert at the Colegio de España in Paris. His works have also been performed at the ZKM Karlsruhe, Societé de la Musique Contemporaine Lausanne and Eastman School of Music (Rochester University).
In parallel, he is engaged in the composition and reconstruction of old silent film scores. In 2024 his newly composed music for Kohlhiesels Töchter (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920) was premiered by members of the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Berlinale - Berlin International Film Festival. At the 2019 Berliner Festspiele, the original music to the silent film epic La Roue (Abel Gance, 1923), with over 110 newly edited compositions from the French Romanticisim and Modernism, was premiered by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the direction of Frank Strobel at the Konzerthaus Berlin.
His engagement with the rediscovery and actualisation of older repertoire also led to the release of the album SONOROUS together with the fantastic soloists Saar Berger and Rune Brodahl, featuring virtuosic arrangements of baroque string music for two horns.
In the field of experimental music theatre, he is founder member of Matter of Facts Studio. Their collective production Matter of Facts has been performed over twelve times in Germany since its premiere in 2020. Apart from that, he works regularly with Ensemble uBu, with regular performances at Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt, Theater Kampnagel Hamburg, Tanzfaktur Cologne and Theater am Delphi Berlin among others.
Diego Ramos Rodríguez is also an engaged educator and researcher. He's been giving seminars and lectures at conservatories and universities in Germany since more than ten years (Frankfurt, Leipzig, Marburg, Gießen) and also participates actively in workshops for children and adults. He collaborates with the Netzwerk Neue Musik Baden Württemberg and the Bundesakademie für musikalische Jugendbildung (Datenbank Neue Musik), the Landesmusikakademie Niedersachsen (epoche_f, Ensemble Modern) and the Netzwerk Junge Ohren (Hör:forscher, Klangradar) among others.
Diego Ramos Rodríguez finished his PhD in 2023 at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. His doctoral thesis will be published in 2024 by Waxmann.
His music for the film The Universal Theory (Timm Kröger, 2023) was celebrated worldwide and highly praised by magazines such as Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Screen Daily, The Guardian, Financial Times and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The film won the Independent Critics' Prize (Bisato d'Oro) at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, the Prix du Public and Prix du Jury at L'Étrange Festival (Paris), the Prix du Jury at Utopiales (Nantes) and the Premio de la Crítica at the Festival de Cine Fantástico y de Terror (Sitges) among others. The music was awarded the Prize of the German Critics Association (Preis der Deutschen Filmkritik 2023) and was nominated for the LOLA (Deutscher Filmpreis) and the Austrian Film Awards. At the moment it is being screened all over the world.
He has been a guest composer at Ultima Oslo, Manifeste IRCAM (Paris), Slowind Spring (Ljubljana), Fundación Juan March (Madrid), cresc...Biennale (Frankfurt, Ensemble Modern), Takefu International Music Festival (Japan), Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Utrecht) and Wortklangraum (Bonn). In 2018 he had a portrait concert at the Colegio de España in Paris. His works have also been performed at the ZKM Karlsruhe, Societé de la Musique Contemporaine Lausanne and Eastman School of Music (Rochester University).
In parallel, he is engaged in the composition and reconstruction of old silent film scores. In 2024 his newly composed music for Kohlhiesels Töchter (Ernst Lubitsch, 1920) was premiered by members of the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Berlinale - Berlin International Film Festival. At the 2019 Berliner Festspiele, the original music to the silent film epic La Roue (Abel Gance, 1923), with over 110 newly edited compositions from the French Romanticisim and Modernism, was premiered by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the direction of Frank Strobel at the Konzerthaus Berlin.
His engagement with the rediscovery and actualisation of older repertoire also led to the release of the album SONOROUS together with the fantastic soloists Saar Berger and Rune Brodahl, featuring virtuosic arrangements of baroque string music for two horns.
In the field of experimental music theatre, he is founder member of Matter of Facts Studio. Their collective production Matter of Facts has been performed over twelve times in Germany since its premiere in 2020. Apart from that, he works regularly with Ensemble uBu, with regular performances at Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt, Theater Kampnagel Hamburg, Tanzfaktur Cologne and Theater am Delphi Berlin among others.
Diego Ramos Rodríguez is also an engaged educator and researcher. He's been giving seminars and lectures at conservatories and universities in Germany since more than ten years (Frankfurt, Leipzig, Marburg, Gießen) and also participates actively in workshops for children and adults. He collaborates with the Netzwerk Neue Musik Baden Württemberg and the Bundesakademie für musikalische Jugendbildung (Datenbank Neue Musik), the Landesmusikakademie Niedersachsen (epoche_f, Ensemble Modern) and the Netzwerk Junge Ohren (Hör:forscher, Klangradar) among others.
Diego Ramos Rodríguez finished his PhD in 2023 at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. His doctoral thesis will be published in 2024 by Waxmann.
BOOKS:
2024: Ausdruck im Wandel: Verbale Vortragsbezeichnung und Ornamentik auf der Schwelle von Notation und Aufführungspraxis (Doctoral Thesis). Münster, New York: Waxmann (in preparation)
ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS:
2023: »Komposition als ‚Kontingenz-Verwaltung‘. Neue Musik und experimentelles Musiktheater«, in Peter W. Schatt (ed.): Musik und Kontingenz (Studien zur Musikkultur 8). Münster, New York: Waxmann. Link (DE)
2021: »Musik über ‚Bilder‘ von Musik, vom Musizieren und von Musizierenden. Musikalische Narrative als Funktion des Komponierens«, in Peter W. Schatt (ed.): Musik – Narration – Narrativ (Studien zur Musikkultur 2). Münster, New York: Waxmann. Link (DE)
2021: »Notation and performance practice in works for piano and electronic media«, in Rei Nakamura, Marion Saxer & Simon Tönies (ed.): Movement to sound – Sound to movement. Interpreting Multimedia Piano Compositions. Hofheim: Wolke. Link (EN)
2020: »Ausdruck als Kommunikationsmittel. Funktionen wortsprachlicher Ausdrucksbezeichnungen in Partituren«, in Peter W. Schatt (ed.): Musik – Raum – Sozialität (Studien zur Musikkultur 1). Münster, New York: Waxmann. Link (DE)
2018: »Neue Gestaltungsspielräume. Einige Gedanke zur Verwandlung der zeitgenössischen Interpretationspraxis«, in: positionen. Texte zur aktuellen Musik No. 117. Link (DE)
2016–2020: Pedagogical comments on selected ensemble works for the "Datenbank Neue Musik". Netzwerk Neue Musik Baden Württenberg/Bundesakademie für Musikalische Jugendbildung Trossingen. URL: www.datenbankneuemusik.de/ (DE)
2015: »RUANG SUARA – Zeitgenössische Musik in Indonesien. Ein Arbeitsbericht«, in: Ensemble Modern Magazin Nr. 42, 2015/2. Link (DE)
2012: Partiels, de G. Grisey. Percepción y estructura en la música espectral. Tratamiento específico de la escritura para cuerda, in: Espacio Sonoro Nr. 27, 2012. Link (ES)
2024: Ausdruck im Wandel: Verbale Vortragsbezeichnung und Ornamentik auf der Schwelle von Notation und Aufführungspraxis (Doctoral Thesis). Münster, New York: Waxmann (in preparation)
ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS:
2023: »Komposition als ‚Kontingenz-Verwaltung‘. Neue Musik und experimentelles Musiktheater«, in Peter W. Schatt (ed.): Musik und Kontingenz (Studien zur Musikkultur 8). Münster, New York: Waxmann. Link (DE)
2021: »Musik über ‚Bilder‘ von Musik, vom Musizieren und von Musizierenden. Musikalische Narrative als Funktion des Komponierens«, in Peter W. Schatt (ed.): Musik – Narration – Narrativ (Studien zur Musikkultur 2). Münster, New York: Waxmann. Link (DE)
2021: »Notation and performance practice in works for piano and electronic media«, in Rei Nakamura, Marion Saxer & Simon Tönies (ed.): Movement to sound – Sound to movement. Interpreting Multimedia Piano Compositions. Hofheim: Wolke. Link (EN)
2020: »Ausdruck als Kommunikationsmittel. Funktionen wortsprachlicher Ausdrucksbezeichnungen in Partituren«, in Peter W. Schatt (ed.): Musik – Raum – Sozialität (Studien zur Musikkultur 1). Münster, New York: Waxmann. Link (DE)
2018: »Neue Gestaltungsspielräume. Einige Gedanke zur Verwandlung der zeitgenössischen Interpretationspraxis«, in: positionen. Texte zur aktuellen Musik No. 117. Link (DE)
2016–2020: Pedagogical comments on selected ensemble works for the "Datenbank Neue Musik". Netzwerk Neue Musik Baden Württenberg/Bundesakademie für Musikalische Jugendbildung Trossingen. URL: www.datenbankneuemusik.de/ (DE)
2015: »RUANG SUARA – Zeitgenössische Musik in Indonesien. Ein Arbeitsbericht«, in: Ensemble Modern Magazin Nr. 42, 2015/2. Link (DE)
2012: Partiels, de G. Grisey. Percepción y estructura en la música espectral. Tratamiento específico de la escritura para cuerda, in: Espacio Sonoro Nr. 27, 2012. Link (ES)
