French-Argentinian composer Sebastian Rivas (b. 1975) was first oriented towards jazz and rock before studying composition and conducting in Buenos Aires. He continued his studies in France with Sergio Ortega and Ivan Fedele, completing his training under the guidance of composers such as Klaus Huber, Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, Michael Jarrell, François Paris, and Philippe Leroux. A resident at the Villa Médicis from 2013 to 2015, Rivas has, since then, been involved in a range of artistic and research projects on instrumental gesture, particularly on the relationships among gesture, movement, and sound via electronic processing. The role of meaning and body in music, the dialogue with other disciplines, and the relationships between structure and liberty are at the heart of his artistic preoccupations.
