24 March 1930	Born in Madrid. Elementary school in Germany. Nephew of the Spanish composers Rodolfo and Ernesto Halffter
1947-1951	Private studies of harmony and composition with Conrado del Campo and at the Real Conservatorio de Música in Madrid, where he graduated in 1951
1951	Halffter began to work for the Spanish Radio
1955-1963	Conductor of the de Falla Orchestra in Spain
1961-1966	Professor for composition at the Real Conservatorio de Música in Madrid, which he directed between 1964 - 1966
1967	On scholarship in the United States (Ford Foundation) and Berlin (DAAD).
1970-1978	Lecturer at the University of Navarra; lecturer at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik at Darmstadt
1976	Prix d’Italia della RAI
1976-1978	President of the Spanish section of the ISCM
1979	Artistic director of the Studio for electronic music at the Heinrich Strobel Foundation, Freiburg
1980	Member of the European Academy of Science, Arts and Humanities, Paris
1981	Halffter was awarded the Gold Medal for Fine Arts by King Juan Carlos of Spain
1983	Member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts San Fernando, Madrid
1985	Doctor honoris causa of the University of Léon
since 1989	Principal Guest Conductor of the National Orchestra, Madrid
1994	Montaigne-Award of the Hamburger Stiftung F.V.S.
1995	European Prize for Composition in Karlsruhe
1998	Doctor honoris causa of the Universidad Complutense Madrid
2000	World Premiere of his opera Don Quijote at Teatro Real in Madrid
4 Aug 2003	World Premiere of Adagio en forma de rondo for orchestra, commissiones by the Vienna Philharmonics, under Semyon Bychkov at the Salzburg Festival
30 Dec 2004	World Premiere of Eritana for orchestera, from "Iberia" by Isaac Albéniz, Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid, under Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Teatro Real Madrid/E
5 Feb 2005	World Premiere of Palimsesto for timpani and orchestra, Dresdner Philharmonie under Pedro Halffter, Alexander Peter, timpani, Kulturpalast Dresden/D
4 May 2008	World Premiere of the opera Lázaro in Kiel/D, commissioned by the Theatre of Kiel, Libretto by Marset Juan Carlos, under Georg Fritzsch, Philharmonic Orchestra Kiel

Since 1970 Cristóbal Halffter has conducted many important orchestras in Europe and America. He lives with his wife, the pianist Maria Manuela Caro, in Villafranca del Bierzo/E.