Pablo Arcent was born in Ponferrada, Spain, in 1968 and graduated from the Madrid Royal Conservatory. He studied composition with Luis de Pablo, Cristobal Halffter, Luigi Nono, Francisco Guerrero, Helmut Lachenmann, Emmanuel Nunes, and Tristan Murail. As a pianist, his performances of Stockhausen‘s Klavierstücke as well as works by composers such as Nono, Sciarrino, Lindberg, or Grisey helped to deepen his knowledge of twentieth-century music. Arcent is also strongly influenced by the philosopher Gilles Deleuze. He completed the IRCAM Cursus, studying composition and computer music. His first orchestral work was La Ciudad del Tiempo for piano, four percussionists, and five string groups. In 1999 he was nominated for the Gaudeamus Prize (Holland) for his Ruido de L’âme (ars temblorosa) (1998), for 15 solo instruments with live, spatialized sound projection.

© Ircam-Centre Pompidou, 1999