percussionist and composer
Álvaro Ayuso (Logroño, 2000) is a contemporary percussionist and composer. He performs and improvises on percussion with live electronics, composes for his own projects and for other artists, and builds much of his own setup — Max/MSP patches, Max for Live devices and DIY electronics with Arduino, sensors and contact microphones. This work extends from the concert stage into sound and kinetic installation, video and reactive media.
He trained initially in La Rioja and later specialised in contemporary performance at ESMUC (Barcelona). During this period, he took part in the Joan Guinjoan International Composition Prize as a performer, premiering works by emerging composers, and collaborated in an artistic residency at Fabra i Coats with composer Luis Tabuenca, focused on new music creation and performance. He is currently completing a Master's degree in Percussion Performance at the Hochschule der Künste Bern (HKB), where he develops projects at the crossroads of contemporary music, sound art, and experimental electronics. He is a recipient of the Albert Hänggi Scholarship (Zurich) and works closely with composers such as Tibor Novak, Yido Chae, María Amor or Altin Volaj — for whom he developed the live-electronics part of his work Echoes from the Past — contributing actively to collaborative creation processes and recently premiering Yido Chae's Possessedfor voice and percussion. In chamber music he has performed at festivals such as Les Jardins Musicaux. In autumn 2026 he will begin a second Master in Contemporary Arts Practice (Sound Arts) at the HKB's Y Institut.
Alongside his work as a performer, he develops his own projects, including the duo Marianito Rojo, with trumpeter Carmen Llena, and the sound-creation collective Páramo 26005. His piece El silencio de Valvanera, which weaves the Romanesque heritage and folklore of La Rioja together with live electronics, was supported by the Beca Inicia of the Logroño City Council.
