Melissa Vargas Franco (Colombia, 1980) melissavargasmusica.com [ENG] Composer, teacher and improviser with a special interest in contemporary and experimental music, Melissa Vargas studied Musical Arts – Composition and Artistic Studies at the District University’s ASAB School of Arts, in Bogotá. She attended classes, workshops and seminars with Graciela Paraskevaídis, Coriún Aharonián, Rodolfo Acosta R., Violeta Cruz, Cergio Prudencio and Gustavo Lara, among others. Her pieces have been premiered in different parts of the Americas, Asia and Europe, and have appeared as recordings or scores through different publishing houses. Vargas played with the ASAB Contemporary Music Ensemble (EMCA), Kling, the Bogotá Improvisers’ Orchestra (B.O.I.), convulsionesdúo and many free improvisation projects. She has earned scholarships, prizes and recognitions at both national and international levels. Vargas currently researches the topic of women composers in Latin America and Colombia. She is the founder of the contemporary and experimental music concert cycle <libres en el sonido> and is the director of the Women in New Music Festival (FMMN). She is a member of the Colombian Contemporary Music Circle (CCMC), and since 2012 has produced for this association the radio program Inmerso, broadcast by Radio Unal (National University of Colombia Radio), focusing on contemporary music of Colombia and Latin America. Vargas is a member of MyGla (Music and Gender – Group for Latin-American Studies), redCLa (Network of Latin-American Women Composers) and the Resonantes Colombia collective, which studies gender-based violence in music. She has written music critique for the Luis Ángel Arango Library’s Concert Hall, having been published in national press, and has been a part of competition juries for institutions such as the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, the FMMN and Atlanticx, among others. *** [ESP] Compositora, docente, gestora e improvisadora con especial interés en las músicas contemporáneas y experimentales. Estudió Artes Musicales y finaliza la maestría en Estudios Artísticos en la Universidad Distrital FASAB – Bogotá. Sus obras han sido presentadas en diversos escenarios de las Américas, Asia y Europa. Es directora del Festival Mujeres en la Música Nueva y curadora del ciclo <libres en el sonido>. Investiga sobre compositoras en América Latina y Colombia, y, como miembro del Círculo Colombiano de Música Contemporánea, es la realizadora del programa radial Inmerso en Radio UNAL desde 2012. Integrante de mygla (Músicas y Género - Grupo de Estudios Latinoamericanos), de redCLa (Red de compositoras latinoamericanas) y de la colectiva Resonantes Col, dedicada a trabajar sobre las violencias basadas de género en música. Ha escrito reseñas en diversos espacios de publicación y conformado parte del jurado en convocatorias y/o concursos para diferentes instituciones como MinCulturas Colombia, Atlanticxs, IDARTES, Filarmónica de Bogotá, el FMMN, entre otros . Considera la música y la composición como una forma de conocer el mundo.