BIO

Born: La Serena, Chile, 1986

Education and Training:

Manuel Figueroa began his musical education at the Experimental School of Music Jorge Peña Hen and graduated with highest honors from the University of La Serena with a Bachelor's degree in Music, specializing in Double Bass. Between 2010 and 2011, he pursued Artistic Training in Double Bass at the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland. He has studied orchestral conducting with masters such as Carlos Miguel Prieto, Johannes Schlaefli, Nicolás Pasquet, Rodolfo Fischer, Hugo Domínguez, and Gottfried Engels, among others. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Cultural Diplomacy and International Music (with distinction) from the University of the West of Scotland. Additionally, he is a distinguished graduate with an Artist Diploma from the prestigious Carlos Miguel Prieto Conducting Fellowship at the OAcademy under the guidance of Scott Wilson, Marin Alsop, Sir Roger Norrington, Marta Gardolinska, Giancarlo Guerrero, and Alexander Shelley, among others. His other studies include specializations in Cultural Marketing (Kedge Business School, Marseille, France) and cultural leadership at The Global Leaders Institute (United States).

As an Artistic Director, Manuel has collaborated with various youth and professional orchestras in Chile, the United States, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. He has premiered symphonic works; award-nominated phonographic recordings, and hosted composition competitions, tours, and productions spanning various disciplines from ballet to opera including improvised, electroacoustic, and choral symphonic music.

Double Bassist:

Manuel began his double bass studies with Maestro Enrique Díaz Julio in La Serena, Chile, and continued with Maestros Andrej Misinski and Adam Bogacki in Warsaw, Poland; Gottfried Engels in Cologne, Germany; Max Ebert, Sergio de Oliveira, and Thibault Delor in Brazil; Thomas Martin in Chile; Matthew McDonald (Berliner Philharmoniker) in Canada; Daniel Krekeler and Peter Lloyd (United States); DaXun Zhang (Silk Road Ensemble); and Catalin Rotaru. He has performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the National Symphony Orchestra of Guatemala, Symphony Orchestra of the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, FEMUSC Symphony Orchestra, the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of Copiapó, La Serena University Symphony Orchestra of the, and the Orchestra of the Americas (YOA), among others.

He has premiered works at the Contemporary Music Festival of the Catholic University of Chile and MUSICAHORA Contemporary Music Festival of La Serena, Chile, and participated in critically acclaimed recordings with producers such as Gregory K. Squires and Orchid Classics. Notably, he contributed to the Grammy Latino 2015-winning album for Best Classical Music alongside the Orchestra of the Americas and Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero. Currently, Manuel is endorsed by the Danish microphone brand, REMIC.

Manuel has performed as a soloist both in Chile and abroad, premiering his first double bass concerto, as composer and performer, with the University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra (2016), under the direction of Maestro Nicolás Rauss. He has given recitals in Bogotá, Colombia; Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil; New York, United States; Warsaw, Poland, and shared the stage with artists such as Leon Spierer (Berliner Philharmoniker 63-93), Catalin Rotaru, Kurt Nikkanen (New York City Ballet Orchestra), Sarah Chang, James Ehnes, Gabriela Montero, the New York Theater Ballet, and DaXun Zhang, among others.

Manuel currently holds the position of professor of Double Bass at the University of La Serena, where he has also taught courses in Harmony, Polyphony, Instrumental Ensemble, and Symphony Orchestra. Manuel is also a guest professor at Kutztown University Chamber Music Festival, in Pennsylvania, United States. His activities have taken him to countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Colombia, Honduras, the United States, Poland, Germany, Canada, France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Spain.

Composer

As a composer, Manuel Figueroa-Bolvarán works across contemporary classical music, opera, ballet, theatre, film, interdisciplinary performance and multimedia formats. His practice is characterized by an interest in combining acoustic and electronic sound worlds with movement, visual arts, literature and theatrical elements, developing music as an integral component of larger scenic experiences.

His compositional work includes music for radio theatre, film, theatre, dance and concert music. Between 2012 and 2014, he composed the music for the national radio theatre production Voces del más allá. He has also composed incidental music for projects including El Quijote de la Cuarta, and carried out musical restoration for the audio drama of the film El Chacal de Nahueltoro, produced within the Cine al Oído program of Fundación Gestionarte and Chile Actores. His commissions for incidental music include works for the Antigua & Barbuda Company from Spain (Chile, 2018), the short films Sonata for the Machine and Memento Mori (United Kingdom, 2020–21), and the theatrical work YinYin by Andrea Franco (2018).

His catalogue includes works for solo instrument, chamber ensembles, orchestra, voice, theatre and interdisciplinary performance. In 2016, he premiered his first Double Bass Concerto with the University of La Serena Symphony Orchestra. His work for double bass and electronics has continued to develop through pieces such as Affekt/Effekt, a solo work for double bass and loop pedal, premiered in the United States and Chile in 2023.

His work for dance includes Yatiri & the Fairy of Mists, a ballet for young audiences inspired by the story of French author Danièle Ball, as well as Yatiri y las perlas de Pachamama, an expanded scenic project developed in collaboration with choreographer Natalie Gutierrez. His work in this field explores the relationship between music, movement, visual storytelling and the creation of experiences for young audiences.

In opera and music theatre, Manuel premiered Todos para Uno in La Serena in 2021. In 2024, he premiered Ánthropos – A Journey to the Mythical Wallmapu, with a libretto by Felipe Chacón, a large-scale interdisciplinary opera exploring mythology, territory, identity and contemporary cultural questions. The production brought together more than 70 artists and collaborators and was developed as an integrated scenic work combining music, theatre, visual elements and movement.

His interdisciplinary practice also includes Sub Mari, commissioned by the Red Note Ensemble and presented in several cities across Scotland in the context of COP26, and his musicalization of F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu (1922), premiered in 2022 as a live contemporary soundtrack for the silent film. His work Madera, developed in collaboration with New York Theatre Ballet, similarly explores the intersection between music, movement and contemporary scenic language. Manuel's compositional practice has been developed in collaboration with artists and ensembles including Michael Scales, Amanda Treiber, Martina Corsini, Marianne Mandy, Aileen Razey and other performers from Chile, Europe and the United States. 

His current work includes 2AppsIRL, an interdisciplinary opera project exploring the relationship between technology, identity and contemporary experience, as well as new music for Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927), continuing his exploration of live musical responses to landmark works of silent cinema. His current creative practice also includes Itinerarium, an integrated performing-arts work bringing together music, theatre, movement and visual language.

Management and Other Activities:

Manuel Figueroa is part of the 2013 Global Leaders generation of the Orchestra of the Americas (YOA), of which he has been a mentor for the following two years. Thanks to this, he has been inspired by great masters such as Plácido Domingo and composer Tan Dun, and has received instruction from renowned cultural figures and Nobel laureates.

He is currently the founder and artistic director of the University Orchestra of the University of La Serena, which has been nationally recognized for its tours, recordings, and as one of the emerging initiatives of YOA and Global Leaders Institute. He is also the founder and artistic director of the International Chamber Music Festival of Elqui, an activity that brings together the most talented music students from Chile with recognized international musicians and educators. Additionally, Manuel has organized various events and activities related to art, such as interdisciplinary encounters of painting, poetry, and music; music workshops and orchestral conducting masterclasses, talks, and more.

In 2018, he represented Chile at the Classical Next fair held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in conjunction with the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage.