Josep-Maria Balanyà was born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, on July 25, 2010. At an early age he began playing piano, experimenting with percussion instruments and singing in a church choir. At the end of the 70s he moved to Switzerland, where he studied piano, composition and arrangements at the Swiss Jazz School with Vince Benedetti, Fritz Pauer and Joe Haider. Axel Jungbluth y Mladen Gutesha. He also studied musical psycho-pedagogy at the High Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Bern. Afterwards, he attended a series of composition workshops, led by Helmut Lachenmann, Walter Zimmermann and Ivan Fedele. Nevertheless, his career has driven him into the field of improvisation and performance.

During his stay in Switzerland, he made several radio broadcastings and recordings, and, in between, a CD that reveals his inflexion from Jazz to Contemporary Music. Between 1987 and 1994 he spent long periods in Mexico, also visiting Costa Rica, Venezuela and New York, where he met Borah Bergman. During these trips, he carried out a very intensive work in the research of sounds of nature, working with oceanographers and biologists, like mastozoologist Bernardo Villa.

In 1994, Balanyà met the musician and sound engineer Walter Quintus (Cologne, Germany), and a fruitful collaboration was established between them in the field of music with live electronics. In addition, he has created and performed a theatre play with Mimi Barthélemy (France, 1992-1993).

More and more his works reflect his interest, not only for the pure sound of the piano especially prepared or manipulated (for example CD “Un peu à gauche, svp”, Laika Recs. 2007), but also for the research of sounds made with objects normally used in fine arts. In the field of experimental acoustic art and performance, he has written works for sculptures, engraving tools and various objects prepared or created by him. He has worked with artists like Pierre Wéber and Uwe Geest.

He also works with phonetic poets and with several multimedia artists. He creates projects with dancers (Elena Albert & Butoh dance) and conducts ensembles and orchestras using his system of conducted improvisation.

His catalogue enshrines 115 works. He has published 14 CD. In his projects, musicians like Claudio Pontiggia, Hans Koch, Joachim Kühn, Walter Quintus, Michiel Borstlap, Ksenija Lukić, das Neue Ensemble Hannover, Ana María Rodríguez, Franziska Baumann, Gabriele Hasler, Américo Rodrigues, Carles Hac-Mor and others have played.

Balanyà is the recipient of diverse grants: Goethe Institut in Berlin 1996, and in Düsseldorf 2006, Land Niedersachsen (Worpswede, Germany) 1997, Land Schleswig-Holstein (Eckernförde, Germany), 1999, Fondazione Marguerite Arp (Locarno, Switzerland), 2003.

He has recorded his works in Radio Genève and Radio Televisione Svizzera Italiana (Switzerland), Radio Nacional de España (Spain), Radio Mexico DF, Radio Guadalajara (Mexico), and Radio Bremen (Germany), among others.

He plays in prestigious festivals and concert seasons in many cities in Spain, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru and Cuba.

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