Born in Barcelona, Parra completed his studies with Carles Guivoart, David Padrós and Maria Jesús Crespo at the Municipal Conservatory of Barcelona with an award in composition and a distinction in piano. After also graduating in choral conducting, he studied orchestra conducting with Arturo Tamayo at the University of Alcalá. He continued his composition studies with Michael Jarrell at the Geneva University of Music in 2005–2006, and with Jonathan Harvey, Brian Ferneyhough, Beat Furrer and Philippe ManouryatIRCAM, Royaumont foundation academy, Centre Acanthes (France) and Takefu (Japan). He was selected for studying composition and computer music at IRCAM (2002–2003) with Mikhail Malt and Philippe Leroux. He earned a master's degree in Sciences and Technology of Art from the Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis under the supervision of Horacio Vaggione in 2005. Beside music, he studied painting and drawing at Francesco Miñarro's studio in Barcelona. Between 2005 and 2012 he was a professor of Electroacoustic composition at the Conservatory of Music of Aragon between 2013 and 2017 he was composition professor at IRCAM. He has also been member of several juries in international competitions such as Concours international de piano d'Orléans 2017[1] and Geneva International Music Competition 2019.[2]
His music was performed at international festivals such as Lucerne Festival, Avignon Festival, Agora Festival of IRCAM (Paris), Royaumont, Centre Acanthes, Forum Neues Musiktheater of the Stuttgart Opera House, Novart de Bordeaux, ADK Berlin, Quincena Musical de San Sebastián, Nous Sons Barcelona, Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ (Amsterdam), Philharmonie Luxembourg, Warsaw Autumn, Wien Modern, Acht Brücken (Cologne), Donaueschingen Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (he was the resident composer in 2013[3]), ISCM-World Music Days 2015, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Festival Présences de Radio France, Manifesto of IRCAM-Center Pompidou, Musikprotokoll / Steirischer Herbst, KLANG (Helsinki), Traiettorie Parma, Ars Musica (Brussels), Festival Archipel (Geneva), Granada International Festival, Quincena Musical de San Sebastián or the Rainy Days Festival.
Parra is a trained painter himself. His opulent handwritten scores show his graphic skills.[7] His fascination for texture and color gradient, especially in the works of El Greco, Diego Velázquez and Paul Cézanne, led him to compositional strategies of transforming visual textures and their proportional relations into dynamic musical forms. Exemplary pieces for such transitions are Lumières Abyssales – Chroma I and Aracne – String Quartet No. 3. Also Joan Miró was a major inspiration (Constellations, L'Étoile matinale and Chiffres et constellations amoureux d'une femme). But his interest also includes more contemporary artists such as sculptor Jaume Plensa (who contributed in the making of the choir piece Breathing with a piece of poetry), Matthew Ritchie (who Parra worked with for Hypermusic Prologue and Hypermusic Ascension,[8] exhibited in New York's Guggenheim Museum), Antoni Tàpies (Cos de matèria), Gordon Matta-ClarkorGregor Schneider (Haus u r / Office Baroque, Wilde).
In 2006, theoretical physics, astronomy and evolutionary biology became a source of inspiration for Parra. He transferred theories from theoretical physicist Lisa Randall, astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Luminet or organic chemist and molecular biologistGraham Cairns-Smith into musical processes, leading him to small chamber pieces, orchestra pieces and eventually also to his opera Hypermusic Prologue based on a libretto by Lisa Randall. Further exemplary pieces referring to such theories are: Inscape, Early life, Stress Tensor, Mineral Life, Caressant l'horizon, InFALL, or ...limite les rêves au-delà.
Parra's hitherto most ambitious project is the opera Les Bienveillantes,[11] based on Jonathan Littell’s homonymous novel. Again with Calixto Bieito as director and a libretto by Klaus Händl. The opera was commissioned by the Vlaanderen Opera and premiered in Antwerpen and Gent in April and May 2019 and was extensively applauded by the public and praised by the international press.[12][13]
Zangezi (2007). Musical theatre for soprano, actors and pre-recorded electronics. Based on Velimir Khlebnikov’s homonymous poem.
Hypermusic Prologue – A projective opera in seven planes. (2008/2009). Opera for two soloist vocals, ensemble and live electronics. Libretto by Lisa Randall.
Te craindre en ton absence (2012/2013). Monodrama for a single actress, ensemble and live electronics. Libretto by Marie NDiaye.
Das geopferte Leben (2013). Opera for four soloist vocals, baroque ensemble and live electronics. Libretto by Marie NDiaye.
Wilde (2014/2015). Opera for six soloist vocals and orchestra. Libretto by Klaus Händl.
Les Bienveillantes (2018/2019). Opera for soloist vocals, quartet vocal, choir and large orchestra. Libretto by Klaus Händl based on Jonathan Littell’s homonymous novel.
This section contains a list that has not been properly sorted. Specifically, it does not follow the Manual of Style for lists of works (often, though not always, due to being in reverse-chronological order). See MOS:LISTSORT for more information. Please improve this section if you can.(July 2022)
Constellations (2020/2021). Actor and four hands piano.
Cinq constellations pour piano a quatre mains (2020/2021).
Chiffres et constellations amoureux d’une femme (2020/2021). Chamber ensemble.
L’Étoile matinale (2020). Chamber ensemble.
String Quartet No. 4 "Un concertino di angeli contro le pareti del mio cranio" (2020).
Cell 2 (2016). Chamber ensemble.
String Quartet No. 3 "Aracne" (2015)
Catalunya Lliure (2015). Chamber ensemble.
Sigma-Waves (2015). Saxophone quartet.
Vers le blanc (2013). Violin and piano.
Early Life (2010). Chamber ensemble.
Stress Tensor (2009 rev. 2011). Chamber ensemble.
String Quartet No. 2 "Fragments on Fragility" (2009). String quartet and live electronics.
An exploration of light (2008). Violoncello and percussion.
This section contains a list that has not been properly sorted. Specifically, it does not follow the Manual of Style for lists of works (often, though not always, due to being in reverse-chronological order). See MOS:LISTSORT for more information. Please improve this section if you can.(July 2022)
Cinq fleurs pour contrebasse (2021).
Quatre constellations pour piano (2020).
...limite les rêves au-delà (2017). Violoncello and live electronics.
Au cœur de l'Oblique / Cinq études d'architecture, No. 1 (2016–2017). Piano.
Mineral life II (2016). Viola.
Cell (Arch of Hysteria) (2016) / Cinq études d’art, No. 4. Piano.
Tres miradas (2016). Organ.
Una pregunta (to Jaume Plensa) (2015) / Cinq études d'art, No. 5. Piano.
Haus u r / Office Baroque (2014) / Cinq études d'art, No. 3. Piano.
Carícies cap al blanc (2013) / Cinq études d'art, No. 2. Piano.
Cos de matèria (Antoni Tàpies in memoriam) (2012) / Cinq études d'art, No. 1. Piano.
Mineral Life (2010). Multipercussion.
Piano Sonata (2010). Piano.
La dona d’aigua (El Montseny) (2009). Piano.
Quatre miniatures (2007). Piano.
Tentatives de Réalité (2007). Violoncello and live electronics.
L'Aube Assaillie (2004–2005). Violoncello and electronica.
Impromptu (2005). Piano.
Chymisch (2005). Baritone saxophone and electronica.
Time Fields III (2004). Flute.
Time Fields II (2004). Clarinet in B minor.
Time Fields II (2002/rev.2006). Baritone saxophone.
Tres Peces per a piano – Lichtzwang (1999). Piano.
L'aube assaillie. Musique de chambre : Ciel Rouillé; Time Fields III; Andante Sospeso; Impromptu; Fragments Striés; Tres Peces per a piano – Lichtzwang; Vestigios; L’Aube Assaillie, Ensemble Proxima Centauri, Utopia Ensemble, Quatuor Aker, Duo Nataraya, Imma Santacreu, Laura Capsir, Amandine Lefèvre and Hèctor Parra. Producers : REMA 12 / Albert Mestres, 1 CD Ars Harmonica, Sabadell, 2006.
Piano Trio No. 2 "Knotted Fields"; Impromptu; Piano Trio No. 1 "Wortschatten"; L’Aube assaillie; Abîme – Antigone IV; String Trio, Ensemble Recherche, 1 CD Kairos (record label), 2008, no. 0012822KAI.
Hypermusic Prologue. A projective opera in seven planes. Libretto by Lisa Randall, Charlotte Ellett (soprano), James Bobby (baritone), Ensemble Intercontemporain, Clement Power (director), Thomas Goepfer (IRCAM’S music computing), 2 CDs Kairos (record label), col. Sirènes, coproduction Ircam-Centre Pompidou, Ensemble Intercontemporain, 2010.
Parra, Hèctor (2019). "From Creative Energy to the Conformation of a Sculptural Space-time: Musical Tension in the Work of Jaume Plensa." Catalogue Jaume Plensa. Barcelona: MACBA.
—. "Compondre avui. Reflexions des de la praxi." Revista Segell, no. 33, Barcelona.
—.『Das geopferte Leben: ein Zwiegespräch zwischen Barock und gegenwärtigem Schaffen.』The Freiburger Barockorchester GbR's 30th anniversary book. Translated into German by Judith Blank.
— (2016).『David padrós, in memoriam.』Núvol. Barcelona.
— (2008).『Hypermusic Prologue – Òpera Projectiva en 7 plans.』En ressonància.
— (2013). "Encontre noves fronteres de la ciencia, l’art i el pensament", KRTU, Catalonia's Ministry of Culture. Article published in English in Sonograma.
— (2007). "Cap a una nova expressivitat". Nexus, vol. 37. Barcelona: Caixa Catalunya.
— (2006). "Strette". In: Bresson, Jean, Carlos Agon and Gérard Assayag (eds.). The OM Composer's Book 1. Paris: IRCAM-Centre Pompidou.
—. Pour une approche créatrice des interrelations structurelles entre les espaces acoustiques et visuels. (Master's thesis). Lead Supervisor: Horacio Vaggione. Université de Paris VIII. Unpublished.
Besada, José-Luis (2015). Composición y modelos exógenos: aplicación en la música contemporanea española / Composition et modèles exogènes : application à la musique contemporaine espagnole. La métamodélisation chez Alberto Posadas (1967) et chez Hèctor Parra (1976). PhD thesis. Universidad Complutense de Madrid; Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis.
— (2016). "Musique, science et crise : quel rapport?" In: Luna, Antonia-Maria M. and Pedro Ordóñez-Eslava (eds.). Les arts en (temps de) crise. Paris: L'Harmattan, pp. 113–129.
— (2018).『INSCAPE d'Hèctor Parra. Extraits du journal de bord (d’un passager clandestin).』L’étincelle: Journal de la création à l'Ircam, vol. 18, pp. 24–25.
— (2018).『Enjeux cognitifs des métaphores physiques dans le processus créatif d'Hèctor Parra.』In: Garric, Jean-Philippe. Les dimensions relationnelles de l'art: Processus créatifs, mise en valeur, action politique. Paris : Éditions de la Sorbonne, pp. 11–44.
— (2019). "Different Trails: On the Multiple Genetic Roots Determining a Distributed Compositional Project." Tempo, vol. 73, no. 290, pp. 56–72.
— (2019).『Corps et morphogenèse dans la musique contemporaine espagnole.』In: Olive, Jean-Paul and Joseph Delaplace (eds.). Le corps dans l'écriture musicale. Arras: Artois Presses Université, pp. 197–210.
Luminet, Jean-Pierre (2019).『Gravitational Music. On my Collaboration with Hèctor Parra.』Contemporary Music Review, vol. 38, no. 1–2, pp. 193–205.