
"...her works have displayed density and intensity in their rhythmic construction, occasionally reaching a stage of violent expression; I say this as a compliment, something immediately understood by any admirer of Xenakis or System of a Down.”"
- Rodolfo Acosta, Revista 91.9 -
ABOUT
Colombian-born-and-based composer Carolina Noguera (b. 1978) is interested in re-signifying pre-existing musical material from traditional Colombian rhythms, which she studies and re-elaborates with a special interest in both texture and timbre. Throughout the years, her aesthetic explorations, as well as her work, have been focused on migrating different sounds from their usual contexts into new ones, in order to find -through such journeys- an understanding of their true spirit and meaning.
Her works have been performed in Europe, North and South America by artists and ensembles such as Quatuor Diotima, Curious Chamber Players, Duo Hellqvist/Amaral, Eva Zöllner, Mauricio Arias-Esguerra, Shanna Pranaitis and Taller Sonoro in a diverse variety of venues and festivals including the National Concert Season of Banco de la República, the Luis Ángel Arango Library’s recital hall (Bogotá), Teatro Mayor (Bogotá), Teatro Central (Sevilla), in the Frontiers Series of the Birmingham Royal Conservatoire (Birmingham, UK) and Universidad Católica de Argentina (Buenos Aires).
Some of her works for chamber music have been published by different labels and organizations including Leeds Lieder (LeedsLieder - Songs from the 2009 Poets Forum), Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Compositores javerianos IV and VII, and Formas de recuerdo sin territorio - Ways of Memory without a Territory) and Banco de la República de Colombia (Compositores de nuestro tiempo Vol. 4). She self-published Linos Trio – Tres Compositores, a collaboration with composers Ricardo Gallo and Damián Ponce de León.
Carolina’s works have received different awards including the Biennial Award during the II Art and Creativity Summit at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (2016), the Composition Award by the Culture and Tourism Institute of Bogota (2006), the Creation Scholarship awarded by the Colombian Ministry of Culture (2005), the Città di Udine Composition Prize (Italy, 2003), as well as the IAWM New Music Competition (USA, 2011). In 2018, her paper Formas de recuerdo sin territorio (Ways of Memory without a Territory), published in Mavae – Journal of Music, Visual and Performing Arts on January 2018, was awarded a research prize by the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra.
She is currently the Head of Composition at the Music Department of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Musical Studies at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, as well as a PhD and Master’s degree in composition from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (Birmingham City University) in the UK. For her graduate studies she received an ORSAS (Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme) award as well as support from the Colombia’s Central Bank biennial graduate studies in music grant, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Colfuturo. Her doctoral thesis addresses carnivalesque expressions in composition from a Colombian perspective.