Master’s Program in Applied Composition to Audiovisual Media

Objectives

The Master’s Degree in Artistic Education in Composition applied to audio-visual and scenic production is specifically designed to provide the students everything necessary to develop themselves in the professional field of the composition of narrative music for cinema, video games, multimedia shows, theater, and dance. It is one of the most attractive and competitive specializations in the music profession.  The degree aims to develop the student’s abilities to compose music adapted to different styles, without sacrificing the creativity and personal originality, assimilating a global knowledge of narrative determinants. The music is at the service of the dramatic action, using the specific codes of each genre.

Students with training and composition experience, with creativity and the ability to adapt quickly to different contexts, are the ideal candidates for this Master’s Degree. The student, to make the most of the program, needs to be able to express –in a clear and effective way– the ideas through music notation, the ability to convey the essence of a dramatic situation, and the energy and discipline to work under pressure.

Training Profile

The student who obtains the Master’s Degree in Artistic Education in Applied Composition to Audiovisual Media has a highly specialized training in the field of applied composition. He is able to tackle complex compositional projects and use the typical expressive resources of music for audiovisual and stage media with full use of his resources and highly professional results.

This Master provides the student with the acquisition of a professional level in the use of technological tools for musical creation such as sequencers, DAWs, virtual instruments, among others. and also the awareness of production and post-production processes in professional contexts in permanent evolution.

Degree:	Official Master’s Degree (accreditation– Boletín Oficial del Estado)
Calendar:	September – June
Language:	English/Spanish/Catalan
Venue:	Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona
Pre-registration 1st period:	From February 1 to April 30, through this link: APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION AND PRE-ENROLLMENT TO MASTER’S DEGREE PROGRAMS link.
Pre-registration 2nd period:	From May 1st. to June 30th, through this link: APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION AND PRE-ENROLLMENT TO THE MASTER’S DEGREE PROGRAMS link.
Tuition Fee:	6.700€

Notification of acceptance and enrollment of the 1st period: May 18th to 31st. , 2026

It is very important to keep in mind that only candidates who pre-register in the first period are eligible for the Master’s Degree Scholarships granted by the Conservatori Liceu Foundation scholarship program.

It should also be noted that places for Master’s studies are limited, and places for some instrumental specialties may be filled with registrations made in the 1st period.

Pre-registration, 2nd period: from May 1st. to June 30th, through this link: APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION AND PRE-ENROLLMENT TO THE MASTER’S DEGREE PROGRAMS

Notification of acceptances and enrollment of the 2nd period: July 6th to 20, 2026.

As indicated above, there may not be places for some instrumental specialties in the 2nd period.

 

 

 

How is the experience?

 

 

Curriculum

The Curriculum of the degree has a defined professional orientation, combining intensive seminar-type sessions (designed to provide conceptual, contextual and theoretical training) with progressive accumulation of practical experience in a wide range of compositional languages. Students will work with the reference software for the audiovisual industry (sequencers, music notation, and post-production) and will receive tutorials and practical experience in orchestration and arrangements, either for real acoustic instruments, as well as sound libraries.

The methodology of the course focuses on the practical application, in specific narrative and technological contexts, regarding the knowledge and the skills acquired. The program includes the following elements:

• Intensive teaching, at the beginning of the Master’s Degree, in concepts and contexts, to establish –quickly and efficiently– the theoretical and aesthetic foundations of the applied composition.
• Analysis of the dramaturgy and narrative grammar, to develop the ability to identify the most appropriate music response in each context.
• Composition and orchestration work to develop competence in the recreation of the stylistic features of a wide range of musical languages.
• Rehearsals and recordings with live musicians.
• Specialized tutoring in the reference software for the audiovisual industry.
• Projects managed and supervised in a variety of technical and aesthetic contexts.
• A program of masterclasses taught by renowned names in the professional world of theater, cinema, and dancing, as well as high-level technicians, specialized in recording and mixing.

All stages of production and post-production will be discussed, and the degree will end with a series of full scoring projects.

 

Degree: Master’s Degree in Artistic Education in Composition applied to audio-visual and scenic production.

Credits: 60 ECTS

Accreditation label

The Master benefits greatly from the huge artistic and pedagogical experience of composer José Nieto, who has composed  more than 100 soundtracks, as well as scores for ballet and theater. Nieto has the unanimous recognition of the professionals, as evidenced by the many prizes and awards received, including six Goya Awards, and the National Cinematography Award (he is the only composer unitl the date to have received this accolade). The Master also includes working sessions on the specific codes and conditions of the different media, taught by active professionals who are also accredited pedagogues. These sessions will include practical exercises, which in the case of the cinema language will ask from each student to make their own short film (script, storyboard, production, montage), in order to know first hand all the production processes. In recent years, the Master has included experts such as Alex Rademakers (cinema), Anna Ponces (theater) and Oscar Garcia Pañella (video games). Finally, in the field of recording and post-production of soundtracks, the Master benefits from the experience of José Vinader, who has recorded and mixed more than 300 soundtracks worldwide, in addition to producing recordings of classical and popular music, and the music of numerous TV series.

Teaching plans

• Composing for the screen
• Audiovisual language and narrative structures
• Internship in audiovisual media
• Final project
• Orchestration workshop
• Composing technique in classical music
• Composing technique in jazz and modern music
• Technology, software, editing and postproduction
• Master’s Degree Final Thesis