I.

- Vita

Cristián Alvear, es un músico chileno, nacido en 1979 en la ciudad de Osorno, dedicado al estreno, interpretación y grabación de música
experimental y de vanguardia. Es curador de Relincha Festival en Valdivia y desde el 2016 se desempeña como director de LOTE,
ensamble dedicado a la interpretación de repertorio de vanguardia.

El año 2000 ingresa al Departamento de Música y Sonología de la Facultad de Artes de la Universidad de Chile para desarrollar sus
estudios con Luis Orlandini para titularse con distinción máxima el año 2008. Actualmente cursa el programa de Magíster en
Interpretación del Conservatorio Nacional de la Universidad de Chile.

Realiza recitales, tanto en chile como el extranjero, entre los que destacan los festivales y ciclos de concierto Cha'ak'ab Paaxil (Mérida,
México), Sesiones Umbral (DF, México), Semanas Musicales de Frutillar (Frutillar, Chile), Muzzix (Lille, Francia), Instants Chavirés (Montreuil,
Francia), Café Oto (Londres, Reino Unido), Bang the Bore (Bristol, Reino Unido), Over the Top (Sheffield, Reino Unido), XI Festiwalu Muzyki
Teatralnej (Wroclaw, Polonia), Centrum Amarant (Poznań, Polonia), Ftarri (Tokio, Japón), Omise Space (Tokio, Japón), l-e Osaki (Tokio,
Japón), Guggenheim House (Kobe, Japón), Yusuruago (Kioto, Japón), Shangri-la (Sendai, Japón), Soutokuann (Osaka, Japón), La Voirie
(Biel, Suiza), Le Cabinet (Ginebra, Suiza), Dotolompic (Seúl, Corea del sur), Taiwan International Improvised Music Festival (Taipei, Taiwán),
Monteaudio17 (Montevideo, Uruguay), Säulenhalle Landhaus (Solothurn, Suiza), AtelierKonzert (Basilea, Suiza), Festival Tsonami
(Valparaíso, Chile) y Festival internacional de Música Contemporánea de la Universidad de Chile (Santiago, Chile), entre otros. Coordina
conciertos y talleres de música experimental en sectores rurales de la región de Los Lagos (Chile).

Publica su trabajo en sellos dedicados a la música contemporánea y experimental, entre ellos: Edition Wandelweiser Records (Alemania),
Irritable Hedgehog (USA), Cathnor/Another Timbre (Inglaterra), Rhizome.s (Francia), Potlatch (Francia), Erstclass (USA), Lengua de Lava
(México), Caduc (Canadá), Melange Records (Japón), 1000füssler (Alemania), Makam (Portugal) y b-boim records (Austria).

El año 2001 obtiene por unanimidad el primer premio en el Concurso Nacional de Guitarra "Liliana Pérez Corey" y el premio a "La mejor
interpretación de Obra Chilena"

En diciembre del 2011 fue seleccionado entre los "100 Jóvenes Líderes 2011" por la revista El Sábado del diario el Mercurio y la
Universidad Adolfo Ibañez. A fines del 2015 es nombrado ‘Artist of the Year’’ por la revista estadounidense Tone Glow. A principios del
2016 es elegido entre los 9 artistas latinos que están cambiando la forma en la música es hecha por la revista neoyorkina Remezlca.
II.- Reconocimientos

2001
1er lugar en el Concurso Nacional de Guitarra “Liliana Perez Corey”
Premio SCD a la mejor interpretación de una obra chilena

2011
100 jóvenes líderes

2015
Tone Glow Artist of the year

2016
9 Experimental Artists Changing The Way Music is Made

2018
50 jóvenes líderes de la región de Los Lagos por el diario El Llanquihue
III.- Discografía

2003
Simpay: Música de Cámara para Guitarra (SVR, CL)

2008
CLDG: Mosaico (Independiente, CL)

2011
Aksak Tacet Duo: Aksak Tacet (Independiente, CL)

2013
Antoine Beuger: 24 petits préludes pour la guitare (Edition Wandelweiser Records, DE)

2015
Diatribes & Cristián Alvear: Roshambo (1000Füssler, DE)
Cristián Alvear, Santiago Astaburuaga, Gudinni Cortina, Rolando Hernández & Jacob Wick: c≠c (Lengua de Lava, MX)
Manfred Werder: Stück 1998 (seiten 676 bis 683) (Irritable Hedgehog, US)
Radu Malfatti: shizuka ni furu ame (b-boim, AU)
Ryoko Akama: hermit (caduc, CA)
Michael Pisaro: melody, silence for solo guitar (Potlatch, FR)
Quatre Pièces pour guitare & Ondes Sinusoïdales (rhizome.s, FR)

2016
Stefan Thut: ABC 1-6 (MFR, NL)
d'incise: Appalachian Anatolia (Another Timbre, UK)
Sarah Hennies: Orienting Response (Mappa, SK)
Taku Sugimoto: Mada (Caduc, CA)
Pisaro, Wie, Werder: 3 + 3 = 3 (Melange Edition, UK)
Radu Malfatti: Hitsudan (b-boim, 2016)
Jürg Frey: guitarist, alone (Another Timbre, 2016)
2017
Alvear, Courtis & Jones: A távlat, ha hátulról (Glistening Examples, US)
Lucky Names (Wild Silence, FR)
Mark So: and suddenly from all this there came some horrid music (Caduc, CA)
Cristián Alvear: Vex (Radio Museo Reina Sofía, ES)

2018
Tumo plays Cristián Alvear (Ftarri, Japón)
Taku Sugimoto: h (Another Timbre, UK)
Cristián Alvear & Santiago Astaburuaga: capas de un tapiz (Marginal Frequency, US)
Cristián Alvear: pieza para guitarra afinada (Pilgrim Talk, US)
Santiago Astaburuaga: la perpetuidad del esbozo #3 (Inexhaustible Editions, SL)

2019
Cristián Alvear: seis pequeñas piezas para guitarra (Zoomin'Night, China)
Cat Lamb: point/wave (Another Timbre, UK)
IV.- Prensa

Entrevistas

Le Son du Grisli por Guillaume Belhomme (FR)

Simon Reynell para Another Timbre (UK)
Miguel Copón para Prepared Guitar (ES)

Reseñas de Antoine Beuger: 24 petits préludes pour la guitare (EWR, 2013)

Richard Pinnell para Watchful Ear (UK)

“Cristián Alvear’s beautiful renditions of Antoine Beuger’s 2009 guitar préludes are indeed quiet, full of silence and are extremely pretty.
They are also exceptionally romantic in tone, finding a space somewhere between baroque airs and fancies… The guitar playing is equally
great- extremely clean, very very soft, with notes dying away perfectly like the ripples on that water. Playing music of this type on a guitar
must be exceptionally difficult.”

Brian Olewnick para Just Outside (US)

“Just precious, amazing music.”

Julien Heraud para Revue & Corrigée (FR)

“ces préludes sont hypnotiques, envoutants, on ne peut pas empêcher d’écouter les suivants.”

Reseñas de Michael Pisaro: Melody, Silence (Potlatch, 2015)

Brian Olewnick para Just Outside (US)

“Very hard to describe except to say we're fortunate to have yet another fantastic example of Pisaro's conception, exceptionally realized
by Alvear. An absolute must for anyone interested in this area of music, truly beautiful.”

Ed Howard para Reddy Brown Objects (US)

“Here’s a solo guitar composition from 2011 by Michael Pisaro, performed with great sensitivity by Cristián Alvear, a Chilean guitarist who’s
quickly establishing himself as one of the great interpreters of modern avant music.”
Nathan Thomas para Fluid Radio (UK)
““Melody, Silence” is a strong success: something very beautiful emerges through repeated followings of the paths marked out by Alvear”

John Eyles para All About Jazz (US)

“Time and again, when its forty-six minutes are done, the only sensible option seems to be to repeat the experience. Yes, beautiful stuff.
This release will surely enhance the reputations of Alvear, Pisaro and Potlatch itself. It is early days yet, but be prepared to watch it appear
like a rash across music writers' best-of-2015 lists.”

Avant Music News (UK)

“Because Melody, Silence is made up of a set of components to be arranged by the performer, the piece as played on this recording is a
reflection not only of Alvear’s fine touch, but of his structural choices as well.”

Guillaume Belhomme para Le Son du Grisli (FR)

“Aussi intelligent soit-il, l’art de Pisaro requérait un instrumentiste expert : et c'est Cristián Alvear qui a permis à Melody, Silence d’exister
vraiment.”

Julien Heraud para Revue & Corrigée (FR)

“Cette pièce peut être une belle entrée dans l’univers de Pisaro, Wandelweiser ou de Crisián Alvear, car on y retrouve tous les éléments
qui font l’intérêt de chacun: le silence, la beauté des mélodies et des textures, la clarté de la composition, l’intérêt pour les relations entre
les notes, et la poésie de chacun…”

Reseñas de Quatre Pièces brèves pour guitare & ondes sinusoïdales (Rhizome.s, 2015)

Guillaume Belhomme para Le Son Du Grisli (FR)

“Là où les bourdons n’avaient pas suffi, son approche parfait les effets d’intelligentes combinaisons opposant guitare et ondes et
accouche d’une autre façon de faire impression.”

Brian Olewnick para Just Outside (US)

“A great release”
Frans de Waard para Vital Weekly (US)
“Not easy, but quite beautiful.”

Reseñas de Ryoko Akama: Hermit (Caduc, 2015)

Guillaume Belhomme para Le Son du Grisli (FR)

“L’intention d’Alvear respectera la devise quand les indications de la compositrice orienteront les gestes d’un interprète doué pour la
mesure. C’est là une ballade ralentie voire étouffée – encore Cage, encore Feldman ? – jusqu’à ce que le guitariste ait affaire à son propre
souvenir…”

Nathan Thomas para Fluid Radio (UK)

“Alvear’s playing is once again beautifully clear and poised, with care given to each and every note, hum, and tap on the guitar’s body.
The apparent simplicity of the piece belies the numerous crosscurrents, backflows, and asymmetries that shape and direct its flowing, from
the general structure of the work right down to each discrete, unique sound event. The comparison of a poem to a stream is a long-
standing literary cliché, which perhaps makes this review guilty of similar faults, but I do think Akama’s way of guiding openness towards
form, and Alvear’s way of following that guidance, transforms the perception of time in the way great poetry often does.”

Reseñas de Radu Malfatti: shizuka ni furu ame (B-Boim, 2015)

Joshua Kim para Tone Glow (US)

“Alvear performs in a delicate but firm manner, realizing Malfatti's score in a way that highlights the potency of silence….He strikes a
perfect balance between consistency and unpredictability, and it's what makes shizuka so enthralling.”

Paul Margree para We Need no Swords (UK)

“Even without headphones Alvear and Malfatti’s soundworld is compelling. Instead of merging with the rumbles and chaos of everyday
domestic life, shizuka ni furu ame exhibits a restrained insistence, a singular ‘of-itself-ness’ that prompts the ear to seek it out among the
background jumble without even realising what it is doing. A ritual, an escape, a meditation.”

Nathan Thomas para Fluid Radio (UK)

“You’re left in the wake of the decay, of the fade… now your ears are ringing. Ringing with what happened. Listening, like a sort of
faithfulness to that happening. The commencement of another world. I come to my senses again. Quietly raining.”
Julien Heraud para Revue & Corrigée (FR)
"De la mélodie réduite a l'essentiel, de la mélodie silencieuse, ou du silence mélodique: toute une poésie et un art du silence et du son
propres a Malfatti, magnifiquement réalisée par Alvear"

Reseñas de Diatribes & Cristián Alvear: roshambo (1000Füssler, 2015)

Reseña Weekly Vital (US)

“This is surely one hell of a meditative release, which slowly unfolds beauty upon beauty. Excellent release!”

Aurelio Cianciotta para Neural Magazine (IT)

“Together they skillfully produce rarefied and inspired atmospheres, producing tracks that are also a bit unsettling, incomplete and
delicate. 1000füssler are accustomed to this kind of sonic experiment. Even the CD 3″ format helps to immediately identify an
unconventional approach, one imbued with so many suggestions and dilated sequences, breaths and hums, obtained by Alvear carefully
manipulating, vibrating, brushing or tapping surfaces.”

Nathan Thomas para Fluid Radio (UK)

“Just when you thought there was nothing left to be done with the ‘sound-silence-sound’ strain of composition that can be heard almost
ubiquitously in certain experimental music circles of late, here comes diatribes and Cristián Alvear with another excellent and fresh-
sounding example of the genre. The composite sounds framed by silence are as gorgeous and ear-catching as ever, but each member of
the trio adds something new and unexpected to the mix. Through its variations on a theme or permutations of an idea, “roshambo (trio)”
offers a critique of time and duration through an absorbing, open-ended musical experiment, at once sculptural and ephemeral.”

Reseñas de Jürg Frey: guitarist, alone (Another Timbre, 2016)

Kate Molleson para The Guardian (UK)

“His attention to detail pays off, and he really sinks into the hypnotic pacing. There’s a sense of thoughts being worked out in real time, of
musical statements being made, pondered and responded to without an iota of hurry.”
Julien Heraud para Improv-Sphere (FR)
“Jürg Frey, au-delà de son intérêt pour le silence, au-delà de ses recherches sur de nouvelles formes de compositions, continue de
rechercher la beauté dans sa musique. Réalisées par Alvear, ces pièces, de par leur beauté, de par leur mélodie et leur sensibilité, ont
quelque chose de très humain, auquel n'importe qui peut prendre part. Car Jürg Frey ne se contente pas d'explorer le silence comme
matériau de composition, il explore le silence comme un matière que l'on peut rendre belle, et il y parvient toujours avec succès.”

Nathan Thomas para Fluid Radio (UK)

“A run of notes can sound like a melodic figure or abstract, isolated tones, depending on how you hear it; repeated listens trample down
the grass into a path, or wear away the surface of a certainty until it vanishes. Alvear’s disciplined and focused playing allows this change
to occur, allowing neither figure nor abstraction, nor a polarisation of the two, to become set in stone.”

Paul Margree para We Need no Swords (UK)

“This is, to be honest, a bit of a dream ticket. In Alvear, Frey has found the perfect channel for his gorgeous, meditative pieces that seem
to mix lyricism with a hidden toughness, like icicles formed from honey. The absolute focus of Alvear’s concentration backed up the rigour
of his technique, honed from nearly a decade studying the classical repertoire in the National Conservatory of the Universidad de Chile, as
well as in collaborations with contemporary Wandelweiser-associated composers such as Antoine Beuger and Radu Malfatti. Alvear’s
performance of Malfatti’s shizuka ni furu ame is perhaps the starkest illustration of that strand of his approach, the plucked dyads of
Malfatti’s score emerging out of the surrounding silence like huge rocks materialising on tundra. It’s monkishly austere and, in its restraint
and self-containedness, transformative.”

Ben Harper para Boring Like a Drill (UK)

“Cristián Alvear’s playing is a beautiful study in concentration throughout the collection. There are no extended techniques called for here,
and so he produces each sound cleanly and clearly, with extraneous noise on the strings, neck or body of the instrument (that “authentic”
grit of folk music) almost entirely eliminated even when the music is near silent. At the same time, the playing and recording never sounds
so polished as to be sterile.”
Reseñas de Sarah Hennies: Orienting Response (Mappa, 2016)

Frans de Waard para Vital Weekly (NL)

“This is certainly not easy listening music, and I can easily imagine some people would be annoyed by it but this is the kind of music that
demands a different mindset when listening to it, one that perhaps requires a more Zen-like approach to listening to music. I thought this
was all quite
fascinating music, both from a meditative point of view, as well as a more 'objective' music-lover position.”

Paul Khimasia Morgan para The Sound Projector (UK)

“…he has got to be one of the most interesting guitarists around at present, certainly that I’m aware of. His technical mastery of the
instrument, idiosyncratic playing style, openness and sheer raw interest in the sound-making possibilities of the guitar have made for quite
a number of excellent releases in recent years.”

James Wyness para Fouter and Swick (US)

“A new virtuosity founded on the disciplines of severe concentration, sensitivity to the instrument as a generator of sound, to the
strengths and limitations its articulatory potential, especially its function as an instrument of percussion, a turning away from finger
memory and ingrained habits. The focus is on deeper listening, on form arising from contrasts between extended passages of repeating
figures. One often feels in the background an awareness of the structural use of silence.”

Paul Margree para We Need no Swords (UK)

“It’s no surprise, then, that Alvear is so well-suited to Sarah Hennies, who is fast becoming one of the most interesting new(ish) composers
emerging from that space. While sharing many of the concerns of the Wandelweiser group – emptiness, silence, an often-deceptive
simplicity and so on – as well as an interest in the rhythmic pulse mined by a particular strain of the minimalist old guard, Hennies is
developing an aesthetic wholly her own.”

Ilia Belorukov para Syg Magazine (RU)

"Кристиан Альвеар полностью погружается в композиторские указания, но не забывает о звуке инструмента, что крайне
важно для исполнителя. Мельчайшие нюансы его игры дают слушателю богатый материал для размышлений или же
просто удовольствия от музыки: выбирайте, что Вам нужно."
Bradford Bailey para The Hum (UK)
“Orienting Response is a work for solo guitar performed by the Chilean avant-garde guitarist Cristián Alvear. It is remarkably beautiful and
complex – stretching to just under 45 minutes, and pushing the boundaries of repetition and constraint for which Hennies is so well
known. Though not her first effort composing for guitar, the instrument, as it is encountered here, expands the fields of tonality and
resonance we expect her to tread within. “

Reseñas de Taku Sugimoto: Mada (CADUC, 2016)

Nathan Thomas para Fluid Radio (UK)

“The performance recorded by Akama, Alvear, Bondi, and d’incise is entrancing, with well-chosen sounds combined with precise control
and subtlety. Their deep understanding of the music and of each other’s playing makes what could have been a dull, shapeless exercise
into an absorbing panorama of sound. In today’s compulsively frenetic and cacophonous world, stillness is as rebellious and counter-
cultural as it is rare; the still contours of music such as “mada” reveal the flatness of everything else.”

Frans de Waard para Vital Weekly (NL)

"This is some very intense music, and some refined beauty."

Reseñas de 3+3=3 (Melange Edition, 2016)

Nathan Thomas para Fluid Radio (UK)

"...composers and performers and listeners are engaged in the collaborative act of making sense of things, separated by time and space
and yet entangled somehow, such that each completes the others’ thoughts. In short, all the things needed for making music are present,
even if centralised control and an overarching plan in the mind of one individual are not. There’s a powerful sense of communion in this, as
well as discovery."

Reseñas de Cristián Alvear & Seijiro Murayama: Karoujite (Potlatch, 2017)

John Eyles para All About Jazz (UK)

“This is not music that can "just be on"; it needs to be given full attention to be properly appreciated. When time and attention are
invested in it, the music handsomely repays the investment, giving a great deal back and revealing ever more subtle detail with each
listen. The three tracks have elements in common but are distinctly different enough to be individually identifiable. Together they combine
to create a listening environment that is by turns engaging and mesmerising.”
Bill Meyer para Dusted Magazine (US)
“Without mechanization, the repetition isn’t identical, and this enables you to hear certain things. One is the tension that comes from
concentrated effort, which charges the music’s apparent stasis with absorbing tension. The second, of course, is the repetition born of this
effort, which is persistent but ultimately doomed to change. Overtones rise and subside, rhythms adjust ever so slightly, and as they do
the music barely but inexorably changes.”

Massimo Ricci para Touching Extremes (IT)

“once the barriers of mental obstination are removed and everything is set to finally acknowledge the obvious influence of what cannot be
taught by voice, Karoujite represents the proverbial great learning.”

Julien Heraud para Improv Sphere (FR)

“Cristián Alvear et Seijiro Murayama jouent de la guitare et de la batterie, jusqu'ici pas de problème. Ils composent ensemble une
musique répétitive et peut-être minimaliste. Mais l'écoute de ce disque nous plonge surtout dans la création d'espaces sonores riches,
dans la création d'une écoute unique, dans la création d'un monde musical où les éléments primaires s'opposent (la pulsation de la
guitare et le jeu lisse de la batterie) pour mieux se rejoindre et former un espace homogène et équilibré : un espace musical puissant,
beau, envahissant, toujours plein, riche et fluctuant, incertain et fluide. On est loin des clichés du minimalisme et de la musique répétitive
tout en étant dedans en somme. On n'est plus dans la composition stricte ni dans l'improvisation libre, mais dans une musique très
cadrée, propre, qui sait rester ouverte à tous les possibles, et qui joue de tous ces possibles incertains et beaux.

Reseñas de Mark So: AND SUDDENLY FROM ALL OF THIS THERE CAME SOME HORRID MUSIC (CADUC, 2017)

Adrian Dziewanski para The Alcohol Seed (US)

“Both artists actualize this concept well, but it is Alvear – whose guitar is featured more predominantly throughout – who best puts it into
practice, with a minimal playing style that is so precise that it verges on tedious.”

Nathan Thomas para Fluid Radio (UK)

“A refreshing change of gear that brings new thoughts and ideas to the table — just as experimental music should do.”

Frans de Waard para Vital Weekly (NL)

“I found all of this very confusing and therefore it wasn't easy to concentrate on the music. I decided to close my eyes and just listen,
regardless who was doing what on this release and where sound was coming from. It worked so much better. The music is very much like a
Wandelweiser piece; quiet, unintentional and engaging for some kind of meditation. With early spring sun outside creating some warmth,
this was quite a beauty. Very thoughtful and best played at a soft volume.”
Reseñas de Lucky Names (Wild Silence, 2017)

Julien Héraud para improv sphere (FR)

"Le jeu des instrumentistes a quelque chose d'austère et froid, de rigide et "inorganique". Les musiciens s'effacent avec leur personnalité,
leur sonorité et leur instrument pour ne laisser apparaître qu'une forme pure, toute puissante et belle. Il s'agit bien là d'une musique
formelle non au sens péjoratif, mais au sens où le son et les musiciens ne sont plus que des instruments de la composition, ils ne sont plus
qu'un outil au profit de la création d'une idée.”

Reseñas de Pieza para guitarra afinada (Pilgrim Talk, 2018)

Paul Khimasia Morgan para Honest Music For Dishonest Times (UK)
"It some mental temerity on Alvear’s part not just to compose such an unflinching piece of music but to then relentlessly rehearse and
perform it himself as well. Lesser souls would easily give up after half an hour and gone to the pub. I’m making it sound faintly dark and
ominous and depressing – not which the music actually is - but actually, I think Alvear is attempting to push notions of the classical guitar
recital to the very edges."

Ryan Masteller para Cassette Gods (EEUU)

"The guitarist patiently allows his careful “melodic cells” to settle and grow within themselves, his acoustic plucking a study in discipline
and focus. Drawing from Erik Satie’s “Vexations,” Alvear presents a single 90-minute piece that unfolds like clockwork."

Brian Olewnick para Just Outside (EEUU)

"Recorded in one take, it's an exercise in concentration and determination on the part of both performer and listener. Alvear allows how
pure replication of portions of the score as written is impossible and that's part of the piece's character. It's also a large part of the
fascination as listener, noting the variations, the slightly altered tinges from one iteration to the next. A lovely and oddly strong piece, its
stubbornness becoming a means to unlock aural pleasures that would otherwise remain unheard."