Biography
Cristóbal MarYan started playing piano when he was eight, and not long after began composing at the age of twelve. At sixteen, he traveled to Hong Kong to attend Li Po Chun United World College, where he developed various media and musical projects, primarily focusing on social issues. After graduation, he was admitted to New York University Abu Dhabi, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in Music, graduating with Magna cum Laude. Cristóbal studied composition with Carlos Guedes, Dimitris Andrikopolous, Mark Suozzo, and Michael Patterson. He also spent a year in New York City studying Composition and Film Scoring at Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. In New York, he studied orchestration with Justin dello Joio, and attended a yearlong composer's forum mediated by Julia Wolfe. Upon his return to Abu Dhabi, Cristóbal studied Ottoman Turkish Music with Zev Feldman, and Middle Eastern music with Andrew Eisenberg.
His works have been premiered and played in New York, Italy, Mexico, Abu Dhabi and Sri Lanka, performed by artists as the Verona Quartet, Philip Nolte, members of the UAE NSO, Karl Kramer and Monica Bauschwitz among others. He has written music and designed sound for plays devised by the Theatre Mitu Company, the Zoukak Theatre Company, and Por Piedad Teatro Company. He has also written music for many commercials, short films and a number of features. In 2016 he started studying with Enrico Chapela, Andrés Franco and Enrique Mendoza, with whom he developed a Pierrot Quintet for Onix Ensemble and an Electric Cello Piece for Jeffrey Zeigler. In 2017 he was commissioned by the Downwind Quintet to write a piece inspired by the art of holocaust victims.
