From 1986 to 1994, José María Sánchez-Verdú studied composition, conducting, and musicology at the Madrid Royal Conservatory, while concurrently studying law. In 1991, he graduated with a law degree, but decided to pursue a career in music, and started teaching counterpoint at the aforementioned conservatory. He went on to study composition with Franco Donatoni the following year, and with Hans Zender at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule from 1996 to 1999.

He is highly active as a teacher: he taught composition at the Hochschule Robert Schumann in Dusseldorf in 2001, at the Aragon Conservatorio Superior de Música in 2008, and at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in 2014. He has also taught at the Ensemble Modern International Academy, the Venice Biennale, the Sibelius Academy, and at the Munich, Bremen and Frankfurt Musikhochschulen.

His works have been performed by ensembles and orchestras such as Ensemble Modern, MusikFabrik, Ensemble Mosaik, Ensemble Recherche, KNM Berlin, Kaleidoskop Solistenensemble, Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Hamburger Philharmoniker, Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Finnish Radio Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, and the Orquesta Nacional de España, and at festivals including Ultraschall, ECLAT, MärzMusik, Münchener Biennale, Musica Viva Munich, Ars Nova Donaueschingen, Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, Beethoven Festspiele, Musicadhoy Madrid, Wien Modern, Salzburg Biennale, Musica Nova Helsinki, Ars Musica Bruxelles, Warsaw Autumn, and the Venice Biennale.

His theatrical works, including ATLAS, GRAMMA, AURA, El viaje a Simorgh, and Libro de las estancias, have been performed in opera houses including Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Luzerner Theater, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro de la Zarzuela, and Theaterhaus Stuttgart, and in festivals in Hamburg, Munich, Venice, Granada, and Buenos Aires.

José María Sánchez-Verdú lives in Berlin and Madrid.

Awards, Residencies, and Prizes

• Cristóbal Halffter Composition Prize (1994)
• Three Composition Prizes from the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (1996, 1997)
• First Prize in Composition from the Collège d’Espagne in Paris (1998)
• Junge Deustche Philharmonie Composition Prize (Frankfurt, 1999)
• Ernst-von-Siemens-Musikstiftung Prize (Munich, 2000)
• Bergische Biennale Prize (Wuppertal, 2001)
• National Music Prize (Madrid, 2003)
• Residence at the Jünger Künstler Festival Bayreuth (2003)
• Residence at the Carinthischer Summer Festival (2005)
• Residence and “Antara” Prize at the Lima Festival of Contemporary Music (Peru, 2007)
• Residence at SchlossMediale Werdenberg (Switzerland, 2012)
• Artistic Excellence Prize from Villa Concordia (Bamberg, 2014)
• Residence at the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical (2014-2015)