Jose Andres Alvarez’s “Óleo de la refracción de la luz bajo el agua”: Award-Winning Composition Blending Electroacoustic Innovation and Spectralist Inspiration
- WOMCO
- 19 hours ago
- 7 min read
Mexican composer José Andrés Álvarez has been awarded the Platinum Prize and the Creative Innovation Special Award at the Francesca Lebrun International Music Competition, Season 3 (2025), which ran from June 10 to September 10, 2025, with results announced in October 2025. His award-winning composition, Óleo de la refracción de la luz bajo el agua (Oil Painting of the Refraction of Light Below Water), was recorded with a talented ensemble featuring José Andrés Álvarez on synthesizers, Arnulfo Uresti on tenor saxophones, Emiliano Munguía on trumpets, Ana Cristina García on percussion, and Karla Arias on violins. We had the pleasure of speaking with Álvarez about this remarkable work, exploring his creative process, musical journey, and artistic philosophy.
Could you please introduce your award-winning composition Óleo de la refracción de la luz bajo el agua? When and under what circumstances was it composed? Could you share the inspiration behind the composition and the message you hope to convey through it?
Jose Andres Alvarez:
"My composition Óleo de la refracción de la luz bajo el agua, which translates to "Oil painting of the refraction of light below water", was composed and recorded this past summer in the span of roughly a month. I recently started reading a lot about the spectralist vanguard in music; I was greatly moved by the art of Gerard Grisey, in particular, who used to try to connect the stars, the moon and nature with his music. More than music, spectralism is (to me) about enhancing and bringing out sounds that remain hidden but so close to us all. The idea for the piece's name came to me when thinking about those small things in nature that seem so abstract yet they're part of our reality. Thinking about a sonic representation of a painting of the refraction of light under water seemed like a pretty interesting starting point to me."
What was your creative process like while composing Óleo de la refracción de la luz bajo el agua? How did you approach the structure and dynamics of the piece?
Jose Andres Alvarez:
"Composing this 3 part work was one of the toughest things I have endured so far in my musical journey. The composition was merely intuitive, still taking into account the harmonic and structural side, but trying to let my mind guide myself. I listened to some of this sounds in my head while meditating; the difficult part was translating them into the score. This piece was composed for an electro acoustic ensemble, meaning there was a blend of acoustic and electronic elements and instruments involved. For certain sounds, I used synthesizers, but others are simply acoustic instruments processed through granulation or other interesting effects. In the 1st movement, there is a short dodecaphonic fuguetta where each note in the series represents different frequencies that are easier to visualize under water, with the purpose of incorporating this concept musically speaking. In the 2nd movement, there is a distant sound of a whale cry that was created by bowing an open string in an acoustic guitar, then processing the sound with granulation. These kinds of details were, to me, the hardest to get to."
We’ve heard your composition as a recorded performance. Could you tell us a bit about the musicians you worked with, and how you collaborated with them? Were there any memorable moments during the process?
Jose Andres Alvarez:
"I worked with a group of wonderful musicians back in my hometown, the city of Monterrey, Mexico. They are all great friends of mine from some years ago that also happen to be very good musicians. I tried to get them out of their comfort zone, using very unusual extended techniques (especially for the trumpet) that were able to bring this rather mystic sound to the piece. I am very grateful to all of them for their participation in this work."
Could you talk to us about yourself, your journey in music, and your future goals? Could you also share your perspective on what defines a great composer in today’s digital age, and what you consider to be the most significant artistic or professional challenges facing composer today and in the coming years?
Jose Andres Alvarez:
"My name is Jose Andres Alvarez, I am 21 years old and was born in Monterrey, Mexico. I started playing the piano since I turned 4 years old, and started composing when I turned 15. I began as solely a classical composer, but later included jazz and other contemporary genres within my concert work. I am currently studying a double major as a film composer and arranger at Berklee College of Music, where I've had the opportunity to work with really great musicians and professors over these past years. My future goals would be composing mostly for film, although keeping up with my concert music composition portfolio. I feel like defining what makes a great composer goes beyond technical and practical ability. A great composer is a musician that is able to connect with their audience, whether is large or small. The purpose of composing music is to connect with an audience, even if that audience is yourself. Once you have achieved this rather spiritual connection, your work will resonate by itself, and you will resonate with everything around you. One of the biggest issues composers face nowadays is pretentiousness. Since Schönberg, classical composers have given their backs to tonality and simple beauty and create overly elaborate music that confuses the audience about its true meaning, which is completely to real connections with anyone. This mystery became the base of their work, so anything that is built over that base is irrelevant. Connection to nature, the simplicity and beauty, that's what musicians need nowadays. "Music is the reflection of the times" as Nina Simone once said. Whether it's politicians or scientists, humanity is slowly losing touch of reality. I think music can fix that."
Would you like to share your experience participating in our competition and anyone you'd like to thank?
Jose Andres Alvarez:
"This competition was really great. At this point, I feel like participating in these competition brings me the opportunity to share my music both with jury members and other participants. Sharing my work is my biggest passion, and getting to learn and interact with others' music is something I deeply value. I would like to thank all of the musicians involved in the process of creating this work, my mentors Natalia Tibets and Laszlo Gardony, who have helped me build my compositional voice over the years, and my parents for giving me the opportunity to create and share my music from a very young age and for supporting me along the process."
Biography
Born in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2004, Jose Andres Alvarez is a classically trained pianist and composer. In his hometown, he studied for 9 years with Russian piano professor Natalia Tibets as a private student. During this time, he participated and won in over 20 classical piano performing competitions around the world, in locations such as London, Washington DC, Connecticut, Geilenkirchen, New York, Moscow, and of course in his hometown, Mexico (Mexicali, Monterrey and Mexico City).
In 2020, he took advantage of the pandemic and started learning about musical softwares and synthesizers and launched his solo project in music platforms under the pseudonym "hats, by harvane." It started off as a personal archive for informal compositions until, in 2023, he was commissioned his 2-hour long ambient album "Amorphous Postminimalism" for the surrealist art exposition "ANIMA" back in his hometown, featuring the works of artists Inés Bárcena, Mauricio Villarreal and Marcelo Galán.
In 2023, he received admission to all of the following schools to study composition with scholarships of 50-60% over tuition fees: USC Thornton, Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Berklee College of Music and John Hopkins University (Peabody). In the same year, he took his path over Berklee College, where he currently studies his Film and Media Scoring & Contemporary Writing and Production dual major.
In early 2025, he published his first book "Fragmentos de un alma joven: Cincuenta y un obras mixtas", a collection of short stories and poems written between the years 2019 and 2024, on Amazon.
His compositional style (inspired by modern classical music, jazz, Spanish folclore and experimental music) has received great acclaim from the previously addressed composition faculties, as well as his professors in Berklee College of Music. His latest composition professors in this school include Steinway artist Stephany Tiernan and jazz pianist and composer Laszlo Gardony. His arrangements have been performed in schools such as Harvard and MIT and have been used for both concerts and projects.
His compositions range from orchestral works to big band works, string quartets and mostly pianistic oeuvres. His piece "Ganesha" for string quartet was premiered in 2022 by the Semiosis quartet in Boston, Massachusetts. His short piano piece "Hommage à Durey" was performed by Saul Ulises Ibarra, MSM and Juilliard Alumni.
In the scoring scene, he has worked for indie short films, educational shorts as well as student projects and is currently studying and working in his craft.
Jose Andres currently resides in Boston.
