Pedro Alcalde was born in Barcelona, where he studied piano, flute, violin, and composition. He graduated in Philosophy from the UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA in 1982. In 1984, he received his Master of Arts degree from COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY – NEW YORK, where he studied composition and conducting. In 1988 he earned his Doctorate in Philosophy and Musicology from the FREIE UNIVERSITÄT – BERLIN with a dissertation on the structure and sense in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, later to be published as a book (Frankfurt am Main: 1992). In 1990, he specialized in Orchestral Conducting at the HOCHSCHULE FÜR MUSIK – VIENNA under Professor Karl Österreicher.

From 1990 to 1991, he worked at the VIENNA STATE OPERA as assistant to Claudio Abbado and second conductor for the productions of Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, and Wozzeck and later in the SALZBURG EASTER FESTIVAL in those of Otello and Elektra. In 1990, he became Assistant Conductor of the VIENNA PHILHARMONIC, and between 1991 and 1996, of the BERLIN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA with Claudio Abbado.

In January 1998, he conducted the premiere of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, choreographed by Nacho Duato for the COMPAÑÍA NACIONAL DE DANZA (CND). From that time until 2010, he served as Musical Director of the CND. During his collaboration with Nacho Duato and the CND, he conducted numerous productions featuring works such as Mozart’s Piano Concertos, Górecki’s Third Symphony, Stabat Mater and Salve Regina by Vivaldi, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and the Wesendonck Lieder by Wagner, among others.

Since 2004 he has composed, together with Sergio Caballero, the music for six ballets by Nacho Duato and the COMPAÑÍA NACIONAL DE DANZA: Herrumbre (2004) Diecisiete (2005), Alas (2006), Hevel (2007), Cobalto (2009) and Jardín infinito (2010), the latter being a production for the Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Moscow. In 2013, two sections from Herrumbre were included in Nacho Duato’s choreography Rust, produced by the MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY in New York.

Pedro Alcalde has conducted numerous orchestras, highlighting those from Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, Frankfurt, Rome, Bologna, Ferrara, Turin, Osaka and St. Petersburg, performing in prominent concert halls and opera houses worldwide.

His multidisciplinary interests have led him to participate in a wide variety of projects:

Between 1995 and 2001, he made several recordings for the BERLIN RADIO (SFB), including Beethoven’s last piano sonatas and György Kurtág’s last compositions for piano. A selection of the latter was used by Nacho Duato in his choreography L’homme, which premiered in 2003 at the Teatro Real de Madrid.

He collaborated with the Symphonic Orchestra of Barcelona at  SONAR 2004 and 2005, working with leading figures in electronic music such as Pan Sonic and Richie Hawtin, and exploring new ways of visualizing music with Offenhuber-Wenhart and Rachel Reupke. He conducted a concert themed around landscape, featuring works by Mussorgsky, Debussy, Bartók, and Takemitsu.

He conducted the music composed by Alberto Iglesias for John Malkovich’s directorial debut, The Dancer Upstairs, performed by the Symphonic Orchestra of Madrid with soloists from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The music won the Nino Rota Soundtrack Award at the 2002 Venice Film Festival.

For the internationally renowned theatre company LA FURA DELS BAUS, he composed Infinito (2005), a piece for orchestra and tape, which premiered in a staged concert on the myth of Prometheus at the Teatro Clásico in Mérida.

In 2009, he composed the soundtrack for Circuit (2010), a film by Xavier Ribera starring Sophie Auster and Vincent Martinez, which was selected at the Film Festivals of Málaga, Shanghai and Karlovy Vari. In 2013, together with Sergio Caballero, he created the sound design and composed the original score for the film La distancia (2014), which was nominated at the Rotterdam and Copenhagen festivals.

In 2011, he conducted Nacho Duato’s first premiere performances for the Mikhailovsky Ballet at the MIKHAILOVSKY THEATRE in Saint Petersburg, and during the company’s Moscow tour at the STANISLAVSKY THEATRE.

In 2013, together with Sergio Caballero, he composed the music for Act 2 of the multimedia opera El somni by Franc Aleu and EL CELLER DE CAN ROCA. In addition to its premiere, the cross-disciplinary work was presented in various formats, including an exhibition, a book and a movie, which was featured at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival BERLINALE in 2014.

In 2014, he composed the final scene of Nacho Duato’s ballet Depak Ine, premiered by the MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY at the NEW YORK CITY CENTER in March of the same year.

Commissioned by the STAATSBALLETT BERLIN, he composed, jointly with Sergio Caballero, the incidental music for Static Time, choreographed by Nacho Duato with sets by Jaffer Chalabi, which premiered at the STAATSOPER BERLIN on May 14, 2015, and the music for Erde, choreographed by Nacho Duato with sets by Numen + Ivana Jonke, which premiered at the KOMISCHE OPER BERLIN on April 21, 2017.

In March 2015, he conducted Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty at the DEUTSCHE OPER BERLIN, and in May 2015, made his debut at the STAATSOPER BERLIN conducting a new production of a three-ballet program. In September 2015, he opened the new season at TEATRO REAL in Madrid with the Staatsballett Berlin and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, conducting Sleeping Beauty. Throughout 2016, he conducted numerous representations by the Staatsballett Berlin at the Staasoper as well as during the company’s presentation at the TEATRO REGIO in Turin. In June 2017, he closed the OSV season at the PALAU DE LA MÚSICA CATALANA in Barcelona with a concert devoted to the theme of love and death, a season that he inaugurated in September 2016 with a version of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with the hip-hop group BRODAS BROS.

In 2013 he taught the seminar on composition at the Higher School of Music in Barcelona – ESMUC. Pedro Alcalde has been Guest Professor at the UNIVERSIDAD CARLOS III – MADRID since 2009. Since 2019 he teaches Sound Installation in the master’s program in Sound Art at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA.