1. How would you describe your music to someone who is unfamiliar with it?

My music is intrinsically related to my Weltanschauung or worldview. As a European classical music composer who has lived in seven different countries, it has always been clear to me that I am, first and foremost, an earthling and a citizen of the world. My music is multifaceted and has an inner unity in its deep structure that manifests itself through varied surface structures, which are bound by a unique artistic voice. Regarding space, my music is both cosmopolitan and local, while concerning time, it is a dialogue between past and future. In relation to mental processes, my music is a quest for balance between reason and emotion. This is related to the fact that, due to my nature and background, I feel like an artist and think like a scientist. My music deals not only with purely musical aspects but also with philosophical concepts such as anamnesis, alchemical notions like the union of opposites, theological conceptions such as numinosity, artistic concepts like ekphrasis, and literary notions such as intertextuality. At the same time, my music can contain references to nature and the physical world, individuals and societies, and formal systems, as well as to the arts and sciences.

2. What is your educational background and training in music composition?

I was trained in Vienna before becoming a disciple of Krzysztof Penderecki, with whom I studied composition for a whole study programme. In Vienna, I studied composition with Kurt Schwertsik, orchestral conducting with Leopold Hager, and performance practice with Ingomar Rainer at the mdw - Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. In Germany and Austria, I attended courses taught by composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Helmut Lachenmann, and Alexander Mullenbach at institutions like the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg. In Paris, I attended the IRCAM Forum Workshops several times, and in Berlin, I studied with conductors like Michael Gielen. Prior to that, I studied piano and other instruments at places like the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia after receiving my first music lessons as a child from my mother, a classical pianist and sociologist. Following many years of formal studies, I obtained two PhD degrees and a dozen other degrees and certificates from different institutions around the world, not only in composition and conducting but also in musicology and history. In this way, I can approach the creation, performance, and study of music on my own from an interdisciplinary point of view.

3. Why did you decide to become a composer?

I was born in Stockholm to a European family that moved around the world, grew up in countries like Sweden, Switzerland, and Italy, and stayed in cities such as Geneva, Paris, and Venice as a child and a teenager. My mother, a sociologist and piano teacher, taught me classical music and musical traditions of the world. She used to take me to visit the office of my father, a diplomat who also loved music and worked at the Palace of Nations, the home of the United Nations Office at Geneva. In my childhood, while my mother was teaching me piano, I composed my first works and told her I wanted to be a composer and conductor. During my adolescence in Venice, as a piano student of the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia, my interest in composition and conducting intensified. When I was in my twenties, after living in many cities around the world, I decided to move to Vienna and stayed there for years while studying composition and orchestral conducting at the mdw - Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. In Vienna, I won my first composition awards like the 2nd Reinl-Preis, the Theodor Körner Preis, which was handed over by the President of Austria, and the 2nd Wiener Filmmusik Preis, all of which were important incentives for me. While living in Vienna, I received some of my first international commissions as a professional composer and, at the same time, started working as a professional music engraver for individuals and publishers like Universal Edition. Living in Vienna also gave me the possibility to regularly attend rehearsals and concerts performed by world-renowned conductors and orchestras at venues such as the Musikverein. At the same time, an incentive that encouraged me as a composer came when my works began to be performed at international festivals in more than 20 countries around the world and recorded on a dozen CDs. Another motivation in my career as a composer was to be accepted as one of the few students of Krzysztof Penderecki, with whom I studied in Poland for a whole study programme. Then, before moving to Milan, I worked as a composer-in-residence in Germany and other countries, which motivated me to continue my composing career, even if I have also worked as a university professor and researcher. Simultaneously, I have devoted part of my time to conducting, musicology, and history while remaining connected to Vienna through the Austrian Composers Association, of which I am a member, and Universal Edition, as a UE composer. Providentially, and thanks to my mother's support, I have always kept the same motivation that years ago led me to continue composing and studying with composers like Penderecki, Schwertsik, Stockhausen, Lachenmann, and Mullenbach, among others, while living in half a dozen countries. In an interview I gave to Malan Wilkinson, published in Pianists From the Inside on 22 February 2013, I mentioned that composing is an inner necessity, and I feel that music can sometimes lead us to the Absolute. I believe that by composing, you can create a microcosm of your own in which you set the rules and their exceptions while perceiving a sense of duty: I feel moved to compose what must be composed. At the same time, I always keep my own compositional voice while bearing in mind the audience. I believe that by composing, one must bring to the visible world what one receives from the invisible one.

4. Can you walk us through your composition process, from start to finish?

Generally, it all starts with a vision in which I can hear and see, in my mind, passages of the new work I am going to compose. I then write down and rework these passages using my intuition, knowledge, and experience until they are extended in time and space. This includes finding a suitable organization of pitches and rhythm, an appropriate form, and other constituent elements like timbre, texture, dynamics, and spatial location. Throughout this compositional process, in which I use different techniques and procedures, my attention is focused on the act of remembering, as if the piece I am composing is already finished, and my task is to write down my memories of how it sounds. Depending on the work, during the compositional process I may do sketches and additional orchestrations, play the instrument I am writing for, or alternatively play a musical keyboard, and use both pen and paper and software like scorewriters, DAWs, and CACs. Finally, I use music notation software like Dorico to make the corresponding score and parts, something I approach not only as a professional composer but also as a professional music engraver. If necessary, I review my works and their corresponding sheet music in a timely manner.

5. Who or what are your primary sources of inspiration when creating music?

I distinguish between inspirational sources and inspirational triggers, although they can sometimes be the same. However, neither of the two should be confused with the vision I have of the work before I start composing it, to which I have already referred. A commission, for example, can become an inspirational trigger, just like witnessing a performance during a concert. But a close encounter with a whale in the middle of the ocean can be both a trigger and a source of inspiration at the same time. Inspirational triggers can lead to inspirational sources, which, in my case, are widely varied due to my passion for the natural sciences and my studies in the social sciences. As I said, many of my works contain references to individuals and societies, nature and the physical world, and formal systems. By extension, they may also contain references to the natural, social and formal sciences as well as to the visual, literary and performing arts. For example, among my works published by Universal Edition, "Actus contritionis" is linked to theology, while "The song of Anna O." is related to psychology. "Sitwa Raymi" is connected to anthropology, and "The hermit" is associated with the visual arts. "Five rivers" is tied to geography, and "A tutor who tooted the flute" is bound to literature. Other works, such as "Debussyan chacarera", "Astor in Astorga", "Milonga meets malambo", and "Perpetuum tanguile", are all related to traditional dances of the world.

6. In what ways has UE | scodo facilitated or streamlined your creative workflow?

I can say that Universal Edition reinvented the history of music publishing with scodo, a tool for the 21st-century composer that marries tradition with innovation. I am thrilled to be a UE composer and a part of this breakthrough. Thanks to scodo, an easy-to-use and flexible web tool, I can publish my sheet music at any time, and it will be immediately available on the Universal Edition website for sale or hire. I know that my sheet music will be distributed digitally and printed for orchestras and performers all over the globe through one of the most prestigious music publishers in the world. In addition, I am delighted to be in the same catalogue that includes works by Mahler, Schönberg, Webern, Berg, Stockhausen, Boulez, Ligeti, Berio and other amazing composers. At the same time, Universal Edition takes care of production, distribution, licensing, and invoicing. And this way, I can dedicate more time to the composition of my new works.

7. Which composer or work is your favorite, and why?

Beethoven is my favourite composer because his music has an unstoppable force, masterfully contained and unleashed, that makes my soul burn in fire and tears while contemplating the majesty of the Absolute. But close behind are Bach and Mozart, followed by composers from medieval times to the present day.

8. What advice would you offer to aspiring composers who are just starting their careers?

I will try to summarize some of the things I used to say to my university students. They are not impositions but invitations and refer to the work of composers regarding their music, the music of others, their training, the information revolution, and the words of two genius composers. Jan Emanuel Abras's tips for beginner composers are:

1. Trust yourself, not your ego.
2. Be your first audience and your first critic.
3. Let your ear decide whether what you have written works or not.
4. Analyze the scores of great composers, but never plagiarize them.
5. Know the current trends, but never betray yourself.
6. Consider that innovation can coexist with tradition.
7. Play instruments of different families before composing for them.
8. Compose Baroque-style fugues before composing contemporary works.
9. Master forms before preluding.
10. Never neglect general knowledge and networking.
11. Notice that tutorials are not study programmes, and videos are not books.
12. Realize that software should assist you, not replace you.
13. Remember that real prestige does not come from virtual likes.
14. Turn to Mozart's words: "It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has become easy to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I".
15. Turn to Beethoven's words: "The true artist is not proud: he unfortunately sees that art has no limits; he feels darkly how far he is from the goal". 

9. In your opinion, what are the greatest challenges facing composers in the present day?

The pandemic has accentuated the challenges that we classical music composers living in this liquid modernity have been facing for years. The information revolution has enabled paradigm shifts as well as a change in reference points. This fact, for example, has enabled the appearance of favorable situations for some professional composers, but it has also opened the door to professional encroachment or unqualified practice carried out by some dabblers. And this is sometimes related to the weakening of the musical education possessed by some of the people who can provide the funding that classical music needs in our society. But this also happens in the field of film music and other artistic disciplines such as the visual arts and literature. We live in a time of confusion in which, for example, some people confuse classical music with film music, which I also love, while others confuse real prestige with virtual likes. This time of confusion has also generated a curious polarization: while some new composers strive to be extravagant at all costs, others insist onreinventing the wheel every day. In many areas of the world, there has been a quantitative decline in artistic commissions due to budget cuts and a decrease in the number of reliable talent management agencies. Some people complain about what has been called the "tyranny of the likes", others are afraid of artificial intelligence, and many composers struggle to balance their artistic visions with commercial demands. In my case, I love the tools that technology provides, and I know they can be good or bad depending on how you use them. I also normally try to make my works accessible to the general audience while keeping my own compositional voice and without betraying myself. 

10. Before becoming a composer, one should know that… 

Jan Emanuel Abras's insights for aspiring composers are: 

1. Mastering the art of classical composition requires years of study and experience, in addition to the necessary talent and hard work. 
2. You must consider whether the average profitability of the occupation fits your expectations.
3. Job offers depend partially on the reception of your work.
4. Networking is necessary for the dissemination of your pieces.
5. Different countries treat classical music composers in different ways.
6. Recognition implies that your private life may become public unintentionally.
7. The fact that some people like your work indicates that others will not.
8. You will have to deal with some people who think they understand what they are talking about.
9. Remember that there are prejudices, stereotypes, and status symbols surrounding classical music.
10. You can achieve wonderful things or not.

11. Every concert goer should… 

Jan Emanuel Abras's suggestions for concert-goers are: 

1. Prepare to open your heart and mind to the music while forgetting prejudices, stereotypes, and status symbols, if present. 
2. Read the information about composers, works, and performers contained in the programme booklet, if available, which should be useful even if limited.
3. Respect the etiquette of the concert hall or theatre, but do not overrate it.
4. Enjoy the classical music concert!
5. Get involved after the concert by sharing your experience with others and checking out related scores, texts, and recordings. 

12. Best pop song ever?

The best is about to come, as the saying goes. However, I have many favorite songs, mainly from Swedish and British groups, like Roxette and Queen, and from many British and Italian songwriters. 

13. Dream venue and performers for a world premiere?

Since dreams are beyond time and space, I would choose the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Berliner Philharmonie, under Karajan, and the Wiener Philharmoniker at the Wiener Musikverein, under Carlos Kleiber, performing simultaneously via a real-time link-up during a live stream concert. 

14. Work for piano or work for orchestra? 

A work for piano and orchestra! Although I am also a classical pianist who has played solo and chamber music professionally, the orchestra offers me, as a composer, many more sonic possibilities, only broadened by electroacoustic sounds. At the same time, being a key-driven polyphonic stringed and percussion instrument, the piano can become a world in itself, even if not prepared by introducing objects inside and when not played with mallets, beaters, or other equipment related to extended performance techniques. 

15. Composing on paper or composing digitally? 

Composing in the mind and then on paper or digitally! I am not referring to improvisation but to hearing and seeing the work in my mind before using my hands to graph what I perceive. Neuroscience shows that brain activity is stronger when you write on paper than when you write on an electronic device. However, in my case, the choice between an analogue or digital writing medium depends on the kind of work I am composing and the resources available during the creative moment, including quill pens and tablets. 

16. Coffee or tea? 

Coffee in the morning and tea in the evening! However, I used to drink them together with an ex of mine, alternating between a cup of coffee and a cup of tea. You never know!