Bio

Sebastian Rivas is a French-Argentinian composer, director and transdisciplinary artist whose work unfolds at the intersection of opera, music theatre, performance, installation and emerging technologies. Over the past two decades, he has developed a singular artistic practice that moves fluidly between concert music, immersive environments, staged works and collaborative projects, exploring questions of memory, displacement, politics, embodiment and the transformations of contemporary narratives.

Initially trained as a composer, Rivas first gained international recognition through works combining instrumental writing, electronics and real-time technologies. His music has been performed by leading ensembles and institutions, including IRCAM, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Radio France and numerous festivals dedicated to contemporary creation. In 2012, his radio opera La Nuit Hallucinée received the Prix Italia, one of the most prestigious international awards for radio production.

His growing interest in dramaturgy and interdisciplinary creation led him increasingly toward opera and hybrid theatrical forms. Major stage works include Aliados, created at the IRCAM ManiFeste Festival on a libretto by Esteban Buch and directed by Antoine Gindt; Rayon N, an opera exploring the social and political aftermath of nuclear catastrophe; Snow on Her Lips, an immersive performance combining music theatre, dance, video and electronics; and Otages, created with the Opéra National de Lyon on a libretto by Nina Bouraoui and staged by Richard Brunel.

Alongside his stage productions, Rivas has developed an extensive body of installation and collaborative work with writers, visual artists, architects, filmmakers and choreographers, including Maylis de Kerangal, Ryoko Sekiguchi, Philippe Rahm, Alban Richard, Charles Berling and Géraldine Kosiak. These projects investigate sound as a spatial, social and political medium, extending musical composition into architectural, performative and exhibition contexts.

From 2013 to 2015, he was a fellow at the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, followed by a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. In 2018, he was awarded the Silver Lion for Music at the Venice Biennale in recognition of the originality and scope of his artistic trajectory.

Beyond his work as a composer and artist, Rivas has played an active role in shaping cultural institutions and supporting artistic innovation. He served as Artistic Director and Associate General Manager of the GRAME – Centre National de Création Musicale de Lyon and its Biennale of Exploratory Music, contributing to the development of new international partnerships and interdisciplinary initiatives.

Today, his research focuses on the future of opera and music theatre in dialogue with digital culture, artificial intelligence, new modes of collaboration and expanded forms of performance. Through STOPERA (Sonic Theatre Opera Performance), the platform he founded in Paris, he pursues the development of new artistic ecosystems bringing together composers, performers, writers, researchers and technologists around the creation of contemporary hybrid works.