Biography

The music of Jorge Muñiz has been performed in Spain, Italy, Germany, France and the United States by such ensembles as the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Seville Symphony Orchestra, Malaga Symphony Orchestra, Asturias Symphony Orchestra, Oviedo Filarmonía, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, the Das Scardanelli Quartett, Euclid Quartet, Cámara XXI, Duo Ahlert & Schwab, and Duo Sonidos.

In October 2010, the South Bend Symphony Orchestra presented the world premiere of Requiem for the Innocent, written in remembrance of victims of terrorism around the world, featuring baritone soloist Ivan Griffin and five choruses. The South Bend Tribune called the work “a creation that is profound, mature and well-proportioned.” La Nueche de San Xuán for flute and harp was released in 2011 on a CD by Roberto Álvarez and Katryna Tan, principals of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.  In January 2012, Muñiz’s oratorio Oda a Jovellanos for tenor, chorus, and orchestrawas released on CD and DVD in Spain, featuring tenor Joaquín Pixan, the Prince of Asturias Choir, and the Asturias Symphony Orchestra.  In March 2012, the Vesper Chorale and Chamber Orchestra performed the world premiere of Muñiz’s Stabat Mater for alto, chorus, and orchestra featuring mezzo-soprano Lisa Bloom, conducted by Wishart Bell.  Additional premieres in 2012 were the New York premiere of Behold the Lamb of God for solo cello at the Queens New Music Festival, the world premiere of Three American Nocturnes for two pianos at the Goshen College Piano Workshop, Indiana, and a new vocal composition, AIDS, composed in recognition of World AIDS Day and AIDS Memorial Quilt exhibition at the University of Wisconsin Parkside.

Current projects include a new chamber work for the Mizzou New Music Ensemble at the University of Missouri, Columbia, a  new Piano Quintet for Cuarteto Quiroga and piano, commissioned by the Jornadas de Piano Luis G. Iberni International Piano Festival in Oviedo, Spain, for fall 2013, an orchestration of Three American Nocturnes for piano and orchestra, and a new Piccolo Sonata for flutist Roberto Álvarez, to be premiered at the 2013 Australian Flute Festival.

In addition to winning the First Grand Prize of the European Young Composers Competition, Muñiz has won several other international awards including the City of Alcobendas Composition Prize, the Flora Prieto Composition Prize, the Guerrero Foundation Music Prize, the Joaquin Turina Music Prize, and the Spanish Society of Authors Young Composers Competition.   At Carnegie Mellon University, Muñiz won the String Quartet Competition and the H. G. Archer Prize for Symphonic Composition. Muñiz is the also the recipient of several grants and fellowships from Fulbright and Rotary International, among others.

Jorge Muñiz received his masters in music composition from Carnegie Mellon University where he studied with Leonardo Balada and his doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music with Richard Danielpour. Dr. Muñiz is currently Associate Professor of Music – Composition and Theory, at the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend.