Born in Mexico City, Cristina García Islas started her musical education at the age of five. She continued her studies at the Escuela Superior de Música (Mexico) obtaining scholarships from the UNAM University, the SEP (Secretary of Public Education) and a scholarship with high distinction at the CNA (The National Centre of Arts). She received her Bachelor’s and her Master’s degrees at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal (Canada) where she earned the excellence awards from the Fondation Wilfrid-Pelletier and the Fondation McAbbe. In 2008, her piece In Ixtli in Vollotl for chamber orchestra was recorded and filmed for a documentary about the conservatories of Québec. From 2009 to 2010, she participates at the Festival International Montréal/Nouvelles Musiques, the 9èmes Rencontres Internationales de Composition Musicale de Cergy-Pontoise (France), the XXXII Foro Internacional de Música Nueva, Manuel Enríquez, (México) and she is awarded the artist’s grant Jóvenes Creadores from the FONCA (The National Fund for Culture and Arts). She has been invited as lecturer to the Université Laval and to the Symposium International d’art in situ de la Fondation Derouin (Québec), where she was also the resident composer from 2011 to 2012. Presently, Garcia García Islas works on her Ph.D. program at the Université de Montréal. Her researches are based on the introduction of ancient Mexican instruments and artefacts for the development of a new orchestration in contemporary music.
[v-13]