Alberto Posadas first studied music in his hometown of Valladolid, and then in Madrid. In 1988, he met Francisco Guerrero, with whom he would later study composition and consider to be his mentor. With Guerrero, Posadas explored new musical forms based upon combinatorics and fractal theory. Nonetheless, Posadas’ self-determination and desire to achieve greater control over the aesthetic characteristics of process-driven approaches to composition led him to undertake research into other compositional models, notably involving the transposition of architectural designs into music, the application of techniques related to perspective associated with painting and topography, and a meticulous exploration of the acoustic phenomena which characterise certain musical instruments.

Posadas’ electroacoustic works, such as Liturgia de silencio (1995), Snefru and Versa est in luctum (both from 2002), and Cuatro escenas negras (2009), demonstrate the evolution of a distinctly personal approach to the medium. His interest in the juxtaposition of physical movement with electronic transformations of sound gave rise to the composition of Glossopoeia, an interdisciplinary work composed at IRCAM in 2009 in collaboration with choreographer Richard Siegal. He continued his research into the use of electronics in Tenebrae for six voices and ensemble, premiered in 2013 by Ensembles Intercontemporain and Exaudi, conducted by François-Xavier Roth.

In 2006, he received a grant from Casa de Velázquez which allowed him to conduct research, in collaboration with Andrès Gomis, on new techniques for the bass saxophone and their practical application in music. In 2014 he also was awarded a stipend by the Free State of Bavaria (Germany) as artist in residence at the Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia in Bamberg. In 2016 he has been nominated as a fellow by the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin.

Posadas’ catalogue comprises works for orchestra, choir, chamber ensemble, and solo instruments, as well as works with electronics. His career became truly international in 1993. Several of his pieces resulted from commissions from prestigious international festivals and performers, ensembles and orchestras, including Esteban Algora, Andrès Gomis, Alexis Descharmes, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Itinéraire, Court-Circuit, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Arditti and Diotima Quartets, Orchestre National de France, and the Luxembourg Philharmonic.

In 1991, Alberto Posadas became a professor of analysis, theory, and composition at the Majadahonda Conservatory in Madrid. He has taught composition extensively at festivals and music institutions, such as Royaumont Voix Nouvelles in 2012, Takefu in 2013, Philippe Manoury’s composition academy at the Musica Festival in 2016, ManiFeste Academy in 2017, and at the Lucerne Musikhochschule in 2017 and 2018.

In 2002, he was awarded the Audience Prize at the Ars Musica Festival in Brussels for A silentii sonitu, and in 2011 the Premio Nacional de Música. The recording of his cycle for string quartet Liturgia fractal received the prize Diapason d’Or in 2009.