About me

Hi! My name is Pilar Miralles and I was born in Almería (Spain) in 1997. I am a composer and researcher based in Helsinki (Finland). I speak Spanish, English, and a decent French. You can find my artist statement and short bio in the home page.

Education

• Doctoral candidate, Arts Study Programme, at DocMus Doctoral School of the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki (Finland, ongoing)
• Preparatory doctoral student at DocMus Doctoral School of the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki (Finland, 2024)
• Master of Music in Composition at the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki (Finland, 2022)
• Master’s Degree in Electroacoustic Composition at "Centro Superior Katarina Gurska” of Madrid (Spain, 2020)
• Bachelor’s Degree in Composition at the Royal Higher Conservatory of Music “Victoria Eugenia” of Granada (Spain, 2019)

Ongoing research

Braiding esparto grass: Reflections on nostalgia, rurality, and presence as spaces of nonconformity

As a doctoral candidate at DocMus, I do artistic research, meaning that my artistic doings are my main means of inquiry. In my ongoing research project, I wonder how a process-oriented and situated practice can create spaces of nonconformity with and lay out alternative narratives to the current post-capitalistic logic of immediacy and goal-/future-orientedness, which makes impossible the notion of presence, both understood as being present in time and space. Rurality and nostalgia, as concepts of embedded backwardness and collectiveness, are explored as a possible source for these alternative narratives through encountering, inhabiting, listening to, and re-imagining obsolete objects, lost places, and forgotten practices through their collective memory. Special attention is given to esparto braiding, a virtually lost type of handcrafting with vegetal fibers of great ethnological importance in my homeland in southeastern Spain. A series of multi-media installations will allow the audience to peek into this open-ended process, which is ultimately intended as a source of constant reflection on how acknowledging our presence and the presence of the other can help us understand anew our modes of existence in the world.

Some more biographical stuff

My instrumental work has been internationally premiered by ensembles and orchestras, such as the Île-de-France National Orchestra, Orchester im Treppenhaus, Defunensemble, Vertixe Sonora, Ensemble Ascolta or Norrbotten NEO. On the other hand, my electroacoustic work has been developed at the Nordplus intensive course IMMEDIA 2021 in Vilnius (Lithuania), the MuteFest ’20 and ’22 at the Sibelius Academy (Finland), or the Festival of Contemporary Art of Granada’s University 2021 in collaboration with composer and researcher José López-Montes (Spain). I have participated in other important new music festivals in Europe such as Musiikin aika (Time of Music) 2023 in Viitasaari (Finland), the Academy of ManiFeste 2022 at the IRCAM in Paris (France), or the VI VANG series of CentroCentro in Madrid (Spain). My most recent recognition was the First Prize of the Young Composers Award organized by SGAE-CNDM in Madrid (November 2023), thanks to which I am the current resident composer of the Spanish Musical Youth Network (JME) for the 2024/25 season. I also collaborate as a co-teacher of the SuperCollider programming workshop organized by the Music Technology department of the Sibelius Academy since 2023. During 2023-24, I have been invited by the Ulysses Network to join the Ulysses Journeys for Young Composers, attending composition courses in Viitasaari, Hamburg, and Barcelona, and during September 2024, I participated in the program Spanish Young Music Talents organized by SPAIN Arts & Culture, participating in composition seminars and premieres at Georgia Tech University (Atlanta), the University of Georgia (Athens), and the Spanish Cultural Center (Washington DC). Lastly, from time to time, I dust off my extra-official text-based work (the so-called book), my flute, and my collage notebook.