Macarena Rosmanich, a Chilean composer based in Germany, is one of the most active international voices in a growing scene of Latin American women composers. Although her career has developed primarily in Europe, she maintains ongoing and close ties with the contemporary music scene in Chile.
The concept of intertextuality lies at the core of her work. Each piece is connected to others through elements that are later developed in new contexts, creating a universe that interacts and evolves internally. This universe is not isolated; it also engages with or draws inspiration from narrative literature, poetry, visual art, as well as social and political events. All of these elements function as a driving force that triggers a flow of sonic relationships, shaping her musical output.
“The close relationship between compositional work and literature has led me to conceive of spaces that complement and merge into a unified whole through music. My approach seeks to give poetic form a new temporal dimension – a kind of collaboration between sound and word that transcends conventional boundaries. Essentially, my aim is to blur the borders of preexisting form and structure in a work, reorganizing them in such a way that a new piece emerges, thereby redefining the essence of the original. This process not only involves stylistic transformation, but also aims to open new paths for interpretation, allowing musical composition to enter into a unique dialogue with poetry and, in turn, establish a richer and more dynamic connection with time.”
Her body of work ranges from chamber and vocal music to orchestral pieces and music theatre. She has collaborated with numerous soloists, orchestras, and international ensembles, including Ensemble Musikfabrik, Kommas, Via Nova, Mosaik, Recherche, Multilatérale, United Instruments of Lucilin, KNM Berlin, Vertixe Sonora, L’ART POUR L’ART, Reflexion K, Broken Frames Syndicate, Ensemble Dibujos, Ensamble Compañía de Música Contemporánea, Ensemble Contemporáneo, Dúo Movimiento Paralelo, Colectivo Azul, José Luis Urquieta, Ensemble Courage, Duo Stock – Wettin, Irene Kurka and Martin Wistinghausen, Theo Nabicht, Lucas Fels, Azione Improvvisa, Trio Abstrakt, among others.
In 2024, she received First Prize at the Weimarer Frühjahrstage Contemporary Music Festival for her orchestral work “Totem.” She has also been a composer-in-residence at Archiv Frau und Musik and the HfMDK in Frankfurt, as well as at Villa Waldberta in Munich.
Her works have been performed across Latin America, Germany, France, Italy, England, New York, Spain, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
She studied with Aliosha Solovera and Jerge Pepi at the University of Chile, graduating with distinction. She then pursued postgraduate studies with composer José María Sánchez-Verdú at the Robert Schumann Musikhochschule in Düsseldorf, and later completed a Master’s degree in composition at the University of Freiburg with Johannes Schöllhorn.
Macarena Rosmanich currently lives and works in Cologne, Germany.