Biography

I’ve always been fascinated by the way music can stretch, bend, and reshape our sense of time.

In my work, acoustic instruments and electronic sounds come together in a space where memory and nostalgia meet anticipation, and somehow past and future fold into one another.

Manuel Valverde (b. 1994, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a composer and electronic music performer based in Bern, Switzerland. His work ranges from solo pieces to music for ensembles and orchestra, as well as mixed music and multimedia works. He is currently completing a Master’s degree in Creative Composition Practice at the Hochschule der Künste Bern (HKB), where he studies with Simon Steen-Andersen and Cathy van Eck.

His work has been presented at venues and festivals in Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Chile, the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

Following his selection for Protonwerk 16, he was awarded a commission for Ensemble Proton Bern’s 2027 season. He was also selected to present a new multimedia work at Musikfestival Bern 2027 and for composition competitions organized by Quartetto Prometeo and Quartetto Sincronie. In 2025, he received the Ammann-Falb Scholarship to develop his multimedia project Drifting Stages. His previous distinctions include an artistic residency at Gare du Nord in Basel, supported by Pro Helvetia South America in 2021, and an honorable mention for his ensemble work La situación interna at the 2019 Juan Carlos Paz Prize, awarded by Argentina’s Fondo Nacional de las Artes.

Valverde has participated as a composer in the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Mixtur Festival, and Klexos Lab, where he has presented his compositions. He has also taken part in Donaueschinger Musiktage Next Generation and the Boswil Academy, and had one-to-one sessions with Carola Bauckholt, Clara Iannotta and Eric Wubbels.

MAV is Valverde’s solo electronic music project. One album has been released, with a second forthcoming. He has performed live sets as MAV at venues and festivals in Argentina, Uruguay, and Switzerland.

Valverde also teaches music privately. He has taught Aspectos técnicos y estéticos de la música del siglo XX, a postgraduate course at the National University of Rosario, and La música en el siglo XXI, an extension course at the National University of the Arts in Argentina.

Beyond his compositional work, Valverde directed Resonar Encuentro at cheLA in Buenos Aires in 2021 and 2022. The series brought together composers and performers working in contemporary and experimental music, with concerts, interviews, and masterclasses.

His collaborations with Argentine artist Margarita Fernández include serving as music editor for the publication of La pieza de Franz, directing the lecture-performance Farben. Ai suono infinito possibile, and contributing as an actor and composer to the upcoming film Final del juego.

He has also worked as a sound technician at the Centro Cultural Borges and on other live productions.