Elena Mendoza was born in Sevilla in 1973, where she studied german linguistics. She then studied piano and composition in Zaragoza with Teresa Catalán, in Augsburg with John Van Buren, in Düsseldorf with Manfred Trojahn and in Berlin with Hanns Peter Kyburz at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler.
She is particularly interested in timbrical and dramaturgical questions and has particular preferences for theatrical concepts touching on language, space and music. From these emerged in 2007 the music-theater production Niebla (Europäisches Zentrum der Künste in Dresden Hellerau), written in close cooperation with the director Matthias Rebstock and setting new music-theatre standards.
She has worked in collaboration with Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, ensemble recherche, Neue Vokalsolisten Stuttgart, Vogler-Quartett, Ensemble Mosaik, Ensemble emex, Ensemble Taller Sonoro, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Oper Nürnberg, Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg and many others.
Elena Mendoza works to spread the understanding of recent musical languages using (for example) procedures of analysis by listening and offering composition-workshops. Since October 2007 she also teaches composition and experimental music at the Universität der Künste Berlin.A portrait CD with chamber music has recently been published by the label Kairos (Vienna), in colaboration with musicadhoy (Madrid) and Deutschlandradio Kultur (Berlin). Besides, a CD with vocal music is planned to be published in 2011 by Wergo, Deutschlandradio Kultur and Deutscher Musikrat, including excerpts from Niebla and the pieces Fe de erratas and Gramática de lo indecible.
Elena Mendoza was awarded the Spanish National Music Prize in 2010 and was the first female recipient in the prize's history.
Photo © Noel Matoff
