About Emmanuel Nunes

Born in Lisbon in 1941, Emmanuel Nunes starts learning solfeggio at the age of 14. At the age of 18 he studies Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue with Francine Benoit, at the Academy of Music Amateurs, Lisbon. From 1962 to 1964 he gets private lessons from Fernando Lopes-Graça. He participates in the Darmstadt courses in 1963/64/65 being the courses of Henri Pousseur and Pierre Boulez very important for his education. Later he moves to Paris, to prepare by himself for admittance at the Hochschule Köln. In 1971, obtains 1st Prize of Aesthetics at the Conservatory of Paris. In this same year his piece "Purlieu" is presented in public for the first time. He studied with a scholarship from the Ministry of Education (70-74). On the scope of the DMD program, was resident composer in Berlin (78-79). He gave Composition seminars at the Freiburg Hochschule and at the University of Pau. He was commissioned works for Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Radio-France and the French Ministry of Culture. His pieces were played in several festivals such as Royan, Donauschingen, Flandres and Encontros Gulbenkian de Música Contemporânea. In 1980 Radio-France organised a Journée Emmanuel Nunes. Since 1981 he gives composition seminars at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. In 1982, he gives a conference at Harvard University. In 1985 he guides a seminar at IRCAM on the theme Instrumental Attitude. In this same year Ruf is performed in Italy, at the Venice Biennial, and Tif'ereth is premiered in Paris. In 1986, he leads two seminars in the Darmstadt Summer Courses, and in the Donaueschingen Musical Days. He was teacher of Composition at the Freiburg Hochschule. Since 1992 he is teacher at the National Conservatory of Music of Paris and works regularly at the IRCAM since 1988.