Sara Ramos Contioso is a composer, professor of composition at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Sevilla and researcher at the University of Granada. Born in Barcelona in 1974, she spent her childhood in Barcelona until she moved to Andalusia in 1983. She studied composition at the Seville Conservatory of Music with Manuel Castillo, Antonio Flores and Ignacio Marín and obtained the highest marks in her speciality, as well as the End of Degree Prize in Composition in 1998 (the first and only woman to receive this award at the Seville Conservatory of Music). Subsequently, she furthered her training at the Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona (2006-2008) with two postgraduate courses in composition with Willem Dagstra, a direct pupil of Ligeti and responsible for her evolution towards Eastern European musical trends. In this formative context, she took part in the monograph on women composers that the Conservatori del Liceu programmed for the 2006-2007 academic year, dedicated, among others, to Sofia Gubaidulina. This allowed her to study in depth the creative references of Schnittke, Lutoslawski, Penderecki and Gubaidulina herself, as well as to assimilate aesthetic possibilities close to a structured music, with strong expressive symbolism and personalised creative parameters in the harmonic, melodic, rhythmic and contrapuntal dimensions.
At the same time, she is doing a pre-doctoral research stay at the Humboldt University of Berlin (DAAD scholarship, 2007) under the supervision of Dr. Danuser and attends master classes on Hindemith and Henze. She holds a PhD from the University of Granada (2016) and was awarded the Extraordinary Doctorate Prize for her thesis on the requiem genre in 20th century Spain (2019). In it she studies deeply representative models exemplified in the references of Guridi, Torrandell, Donostia, Querol, Montsalvatge or Benguerel. He belongs to the research group of Musical Heritage of Andalusia (HUM 263) of the UGR and has participated in numerous congresses and scientific conferences focused on the study of religious music (requiem) and chamber music in the 20th century, as well as in master classes with speakers such as Benet Casablancas, Arturo Tamayo, Tomás Marco, Yvan Nommick, Antonio Martín Moreno and Emilio Casares.
In the field of creation, she has premiered in the contemporary music cycle of Córdoba (2005), in the Fex of Granada (2010), in the MAHS sessions of the RCSM Victoria Eugenia of Granada (2011-2017), in the cycle dedicated to women composers organised by the Conservatorio Superior de Jaén (2021), in the Auditorio Mompou of the SGAE (2022), in the Auditorio Edgar Neville of Málaga (2022) or in the Eduard Toldrá of Barcelona (2022). His works have been performed by the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra, the Styria Orchestra of Barcelona, the Noise Atelier, Bohemia Blässerquintett and Adolfo Sax. As well as performers of the level of Guillem Pérez Quer, Pedro Gavilán, Jesús Viedma, Antonio Juárez, Ana Huete, Ángel Conde, Enrique Peña, Elena Simionov and the conductors Domenech García de la Rubia, Maria Sydor or Angel Luis Pérez Garrido.
He has also collaborated in the production of musical tales with the Diputación de Huelva and the Patronato de Doñana, in the transcription and critical edition of Manuel Castillo's quartets (Innovation Project CED MTI-023/17), of Miquel Querol's requiem (work pending publication) and in the composition of the guitar piece Cançó antiga de Montserrat commissioned by the ACC (2022). He is a full member of the Malaga composers' society ACIM, the Catalan ACC, the analysis society SMA, the Spanish society of musicology SEDEM and the society of women in music AMM. He is also a full member of the Ateneo de Sevilla. His compositional repertoire includes works in all ensembles. In the professional field, she has participated continuously in selection processes and composition juries. She is also a European Expert for the European Commission.