Òscar Colomina i Bosch (*1977)
Òscar is a composer and conductor whose music has been widely praised for its imagination, dramatic expressiveness and technical refinement. Prize winner at the 2023 Krzysztof Penderecki International Composers’ Competition – Arboretum, Òscar is an increasingly distinctive voice in the European contemporary music scene, and is regularly invited to present his work internationally. Mozarteum University Salzburg dedicated a portrait concert to his chamber music, and he has given composition and chamber music masterclasses at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Liszt Academy in Budapest, Royal Conservatoire of The Hague (School for Young Talent), and Akoesticum Talent Programme in the Netherlands. He is a member of the teaching faculty of Porto PianoFest.
Currently Dean of the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, Òscar held senior academic and artistic positions in the United Kingdom, serving as Director of Music at The Yehudi Menuhin School (2017–2020) and as Professor of Orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music (2013–2020), where he remains an Associate —an honour awarded to alumni who have made a notable contribution to music and society.
A graduate of the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Valencia and a former member of the Spanish National Youth Orchestra—performing under Carlo Maria Giulini and Gianandrea Noseda—he pursued further studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Royal Academy of Music. His principal teachers included Malcolm Singer and Simon Bainbridge (composition) and Alan Hazeldine (conducting), and he benefited from the advice of Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr and Julian Anderson.
Among his recent orchestral works, VISITACION[e]S (2025), a large-scale song cycle for soprano and orchestra commissioned by the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España (OCNE) and premiered at the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, received a particularly strong critical response. Juan Gómez Espinosa (Ritmo) described it as ‘a demonstration of mastery over the score’, while Rafael Ortega Basagoiti (Scherzo) praised it as ‘a score of excellent craftsmanship, finely orchestrated’. Writing in Platea Magazine, Víctor Mourelle observed that in VISITACION[e]S, ‘Colomina i Bosch moves in a territory where poetic reflection and technical elaboration coexist naturally’, concluding that the composer’s presence in the OCNE season ‘confirms the growing prominence of his voice in contemporary Spanish creation’.
Other successes include The Styx (2024, commissioned by the ENSEMS Festival and premiered by the Orquestra de València under Baldur Brönnimann), about which Justo Romero (Levante-EMV, Beckmesser) commented on Òscar’s ‘precise yet fluid writing’ and his ‘unique and unmistakable style’, receiving the piece as ‘a new masterwork of Spanish music’.
A commission from the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition, Shpigl for solo violin (2016), was described by composer John Adams as ‘a small masterpiece of both musical and dramatic imagination’. Adams subsequently programmed Shpigl in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella series Noon to Midnight, inviting Òscar to attend its American premiere at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Other notable works include Imatges (2021), written for the Iturbi International Piano Competition and since performed in Washington, New York, Porto and Hannover, and his orchestral score Entfaltung (2015), commissioned by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, which was praised by Jean-Bernard Pommier for its ‘perfect control of orchestration and timing’ and its ‘strong and captivating music’.
Òscar’s music has been conducted by David Afkham, Jaime Martín, Pablo González, Baldur Brönnimann, Lucas Macías, Álvaro Albiach and Christopher Austin. His works have been commissioned and performed by institutions and ensembles including the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, Philharmonia Orchestra, Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical, Orquestra de València, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Oviedo Filarmonía, Orchestra of the Swan, Trío Arbós, Grup Instrumental de València and the Schubert Ensemble. Performances have taken place across Europe and the United States, in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and universities including Yale and New York University, as well as major Spanish concert halls including the Auditorio Nacional, Teatros del Canal, Palau de la Música and Palau de les Arts in Valencia, ADDA Alicante, Auditorio de Zaragoza and Auditorio de Galicia. His music has been broadcast in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Denmark and the United States.
His work has featured in festivals including Cheltenham Festival, City of London Festival, Manchester QuartetFest, ENSEMS (València), Córdoba Contemporary Music Festival, Burgos Summer Festival, Música en Compostela, the European Congress of Conservatoires, Contemporary Music Days (Armenia), and Composers Now (New York), among others.
Òscar has also orchestrated works for Heinrich Schiff and the Kremerata Baltica (Gewandhaus Leipzig, 2009), and for the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition in Beijing (2012). He has held composition residencies at the Iturbi International Piano Competition, London’s Barbican Pit Theatre, the Joven Orquesta Internacional Ciudad de Oviedo, and Cove Park (Scotland), and has served as a jury member for the Valencia International Wind Band Competition.
As a conductor, Òscar was engaged by the Orquestra de València for the ENSEMS International Festival, and has appeared in halls and festivals such as Gstaad Menuhin, Fundación Juan March, and Pau Casals International Festival. Often working with young musicians, he has collaborated with the youth orchestras of the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, and has also worked with ensembles including the Royal Academy of Music New Music Ensemble, The Yehudi Menuhin School Orchestra, the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague School for Young Talent’s Atheneum Kamerorkest, Camerata XXI, Orpheus Sinfonia (London) and the Conservatorio Superior de Castilla y León New Music Ensemble.
·Upcoming:
2026 | Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (Madrid), 4Sonora, The Labyrinth (string quartet). More info.
2026 | Juan March Foundation, Clare Hammond, Imatges (III). More info.
2026 | Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Los Pozos del Olvido/Wells of Oblivion (for orchestra, premiere 17 of April 2026). More info.
2026| ACHROME Ensemble, Nocturnes (Bergamo, Sala Piatti). More info.