Carlos Bandera

Carlos Bandera is a Chicago-based composer whose music explores the expressive potential of contextualization and transformation of musical materials. He often expands simple elements into large-scale, glacially unfolding musical structures, through which he explores the interplay of harmony, noise, and texture.

Bandera’s orchestral work Materia Prima, which was premiered in 2023 at Carnegie Hall by the American Composers Orchestra, was described by the New York Classical Review as having “one of the most immersive and elegant transitions from nothingness to complexity that one has heard.” His music has been performed by groups such as the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Albany Symphony, the Chicago Composers Orchestra, the Westside Chamber Players, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Dogs of Desire, Mivos Quartet, ~Nois, Cerus Quartet, Ensemble Linea, Mycelium New Music, Earspace, Hebrides Ensemble, Nebula Ensemble, and Omnibus Ensemble. In 2022, his piece Meristem was performed by the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra during their “On the Road” tour across South East England.

He has been a fellow at Copland House’s CULTIVATE, Orchestra of St Luke’s DeGaetano Composition Institute, Composers Conference, and the Underwood New Music Readings. He has also been a resident composer at the Black House Collective New Music Workshop and has attended the Delian Academy for New Music and Time of Music (Musiikin aika). His music has been performed at the 34th International Review of Composers in Belgrade, Serbia, the Ear Taxi Festival, NUNC! 6, the Midwest Graduate Music Consortium conference, the American Music Festival, the Walden School’s Young Musicians Program, and the Remus Georgescu International Music Festival in Timișoara, Romania.

Bandera holds degrees from the Peabody Institute (MM) and Montclair State University (BM). He is currently pursuing his PhD in Composition and Music Technology at Northwestern University, where he received the William T. Faricy Award and has taught courses in aural skills, composition, and notation software. His mentors have included Elizabeth Brown, Dean Drummond, Marcos Balter, Kevin Puts, Alex Mincek, and Hans Thomalla.