“[José Menor’s] etude is amazing, it has such a range of textures and emotions, and those rapid bitonal arpeggios are majestic pillars.” 

- Jed Distler. Reviewer (Gramophone), Radio Presenter (WWFM), Pianist, Composer.

“… la obra del propio Menor, una pieza de aromas jazzísticos de gran dificultad técnica y contrastes dinámicos de fuerte impacto sonoro.”

- Andrés Moreno Mengíbar, Diario de Sevilla.

From a young age, José has shown a very personal approach to composition. His highly eclectic output ranges from radically experimental music, including collaborations with electronic composers and video artists, to music influenced by jazz and flamenco. He has written polystylistic orchestral works, chamber music and songs as well as piano music. His works have been performed in Europe and the USA, and have also been broadcast on national radio (RNE, Spain) and Resonance FM (UK).

José’s varied solo piano output includes works ranging from miniatures to major virtuosic pieces. ‘October Mood’ was recently premiered at the 2025 London New Winds Festival, by Clare Simmonds. ‘New Crossroads’, a virtuoso etude commissioned by the Centro Nacional de Difusion Musical (CNDM) in Spain, was premiered by Jose in 2017, and has since been performed in tour both by Jose Menor and pianist Oscar Martin. His premiere in progress, ‘Fragments for Clare’, is a collection of brief experimental piano pieces. José has performed selections of them in New York, London and Los Angeles, on several occasions.

In 2014 Jose premiered six works for piano and electronics composed in collaboration with videoartist and computer music composer Francesc Martí (at several venues in New York). Other premiered works by José include: string quartet ‘Limits’ (2001), songs in homage to Neruda (2004) for soprano and six instrumentalists, ‘Small Picture’ for piano and wind orchestra, ‘Octet’, etc.

José’s arrangement of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, ‘The Little Magic Flute’ (‘La Petita Flauta Magica’) has enjoyed runaway success. Written in collaboration with stage director Joan Font (Comediants), it was produced by the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona in 2001 and has just had its final season in 2025, after 25 uninterrupted years, half a million spectators and hundreds of performances. The production has toured Spain in several occasions and had further tours to France (2003), Chile (2004) and Colombia (2012). A commercial DVD was released in 2002.

Whilst at the Conservatori Municipal de Música de Barcelona, José studied composition, orchestration and analysis with Carles Guinovart, arrangements and jazz composition with Lluis Verges and film-scoring with Joan Albert Amargós (Barcelona’s Taller de Musics), José Nieto (Barcelona’s Aula de Musica Moderna i Jazz) and Alearco Ambrosi. He has also received guidance from the renowned British composer, Michael Finnissy.

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SOLO PIANO

October mood (2025) Premiered by Clare Simmonds at the London New Wind Festival.

The adventures of an interrupted speech, bits of croissant and some TV news headlines... Route 0 (2024)

Visual etude (2024)

Random Landscapes 2 (2023)

New Crossroads (2017) Commissioned by the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical, CNDM. Premiere: 28 February 2017, by José Menor at the Alicante Auditorium, Spain.

Fragments for Clare (from 2016)
Selections premiered by José Menor at: SpectrumNYC, New York, USA (24 September 2016); Blackheath Halls, London, UK (11 January 2017); Borough New Music, London, UK (21 February 2017); Los Angeles, USA (2017 and 2018).

Notes on Crossroads: A Brief Summary of Random Landscapes (2013)
Premiere: 9 October 2013, José Menor at the SGAE Auditorium, Madrid, Spain.

Random Landscapes (2012)

Visual Time (1996)

ENSEMBLE MUSIC

Fragment 18 for Orchestra (2024)

Small Picture (2004) concerto for solo piano and wind orchestra
Premiere: 2004, Conservatori Municipal de Badalona.

Limits (2001) for string quartet
Premiere: 2001, L’Auditori, Barcelona.

Collage (1999) for flute, clarinet, 2 saxophones, keyboards, piano, percussion, electric bass.

New views in G (1998) for saxophone quartet.

Octet (1998) for flute, clarinet, 2 saxophones, piano, percussion, violin and cello.
Premiere: 1998, by professors at the Conservatori Superior Municipal de Música de Barcelona.

PIANO AND ELECTRONICS

Passacaglia; Iterations in F; Geometric Variations; Quantum Cycles (2014) for piano, electronics and visuals
Collaboration with video artist Francesc Martí
Premiere: 24 April 2014, Simmons Center, State University of New York, USA.

VOICE

La entrada (2017) (text: Psalm 133 v 1) for 3 sopranos, mezzo, tenor, 2 basses, mixed Choir, organ, cello.
Premiere: 5 August 2017, St Oswald’s Church, Oswaldkirk, York, UK.

Tres canciones para Neruda (2004) (text: Poema 4, Poema 12, Poema 15, from ‘Veinte Poemas de Amor y una Canción Desesperada’)
Premiere: 2004, L’Auditori, Barcelona.