Dear composers, faculty, auditors, and artists in residency,

It’s great to check in with you as we inch closer to our time in Valencia! On behalf of all faculty and staff I’d like to express our gratitude and excitement to meet you in Spain in July.

In the meantime, I thought of sharing a few pieces of information that would allow you to better plan for the festival; please bear with me and read below:

Festival Event Dates – July 9th to July 18th, 2025

Concert Dates, all at 19:30h at the Conservatory:

•  Mivos Quartet Concert 1 – Friday, July 11th, 2025
•  VICE Concert 1 – Monday, July 14th, 2025
• Mivos Quartet Concert 2 – Tuesday, July 15th, 2025
• VICE Concert 2 – Friday, July 18th, 2025

At this point we’re still arranging which pieces will be where, but if you haven’t to this very-late point submitted your piece (you know who you are), please do it now. To submit your piece, please send it to [email protected] AND [email protected]. If you haven’t submitted your work, your piece is in the point in which the ensembles might not be comfortable performing it in concert and may reserve the right to not do so.

Please keep in mind that we do not print concert programs and we will be sharing a link to the digital version of it. We will also be sharing PDFs of programs when we send out recordings.

Master Schedule:

The Master Schedule is not ready yet, but it will be posted and made available to you on this page: https://vipafestival.org/2025-composition-schedule/. Please make sure to save it and keep it handy so you know what to do during VIPA.

It will be your responsibility (and here I include everyone, faculty, students, and artists in residency) to keep informed about where you are scheduled to be during the festival.

We’re of the philosophy of having a strategically-relaxed festival so this experience serves you to discover the city of Valencia, practice your instrument, or have composing time. The Conservatory where the festival occur has practice rooms that are available so people can take advantage of the facility and the ample “me” time you can have (or not, if you so choose) at VIPA.

Contact information:

After gathering info over the years it seems like the most widely available thing for us to have some sort of group chat is WhatsApp Messenger; the link for this year’s group is This one — an admin (Jorge, Carlos, or myself) will need to approve you before joining, to keep trolls out and such. Feel free to keep it silent, but please make it a point to not ignore it during the Festival.

Please keep these numbers on-hand for any issues:

Emmanuel Berrido: +1 (786) 312-9708 (FB messenger / Instagram @emmanuelberrido / WhatsApp only)
Carlos Amat (Artistic Director): +34 669 425 002
Jorge Grossmann (Composition Program Director): +1 (702) 496-6801

Important Locations + Getting there:

Residency: micampus Avenida del Puerto — Avenida del Puerto 83, 46021 Valencia, Spain.

A reminder that if you’re staying there, your stay is likely booked from the 8th of July to the 19th (unless for some reason you have any other arrangement – this is rare). They also offer to be available through WhatsApp; their number is +34 646 983 181.

The residency has a check-in / front desk, and you would check in just like a hotel. The premises are gated, so you will have to call and have the front desk let you in. Usually the place has a sign with instructions. The residency will have WiFi information for you to keep connected and they’ll give it to you upon arrival.

VIPA Festival Campus: Conservatorio Superior de Música “Joaquín Rodrigo” — Calle de Ricardo Muñoz Suay 4, 46013 Valencia, Spain.

Likewise, the conservatory will have WiFi information (though heads up, it can be hit-or-miss in our experience) that you will be able to connect to.

Please remember you have some information about Valencia in general on our website: https://vipafestival.org/about-us/valencia-info/as>

There are two apps that you could use for taxi — FREENOW and CABIFY. FreeNow taps into the network of public taxis, and Cabify works more like your typical Uber or Lyft. They’re usually about the same price, and I’ve found FreeNow to be more reliable than Cabify in the past. We encourage you to arrange to share a cab with a peer when you get there, so the cost comes down significantly (probably 7€ or so per person).

There are ways to reach the residency and conservatory through public transportation, but I will get more exact information closer to the festival.

Student presentations & Discussion panels:

We schedule time for VIPA composition participants to informally share their work with everyone. As a participant, and if interested, you may sign up to give 15–20-minute presentation about your work, research or any topic that interests you.

At this point we don’t have the master schedule ready, but I’ll send a second VIPA email around the third week ofJune, and at such time I’ll ask for actual signups for these presentations. This message however gives you a heads up in case you’d like to prepare a presentation about your work.

In addition to composer presentations, participants may also propose topics for forums/discussion sessions to be scheduled while in the festival. In the past, topics have ranged from career development to social issues in the current musical landscape. This year for instance, Amy Williams will host a prepared piano workshop centered around the preparations for Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes which is amazing. Please communicate with us if you have an idea for a topic; we will schedule these forums depending on interest.

Electricity in Spain:

This usually grabs everyone by surprise, but please remember that wall electricity connectors are different in Europe and voltage is 220v. If you are coming with devices from the US / Latin America / Canada, I strongly recommend getting an adapter for each of your devices, although with enough planning you can make do with only one adapter.

I’d suggested a pack before but this is only for Amazon in the US. There is Amazon Prime in Valencia (same day delivery in many cases and all!), but your US (or other country) account won’t work here (you can always sign up for a Prime trial and then cancel it whenever you leave, there’s 30 days free).

TECH TECH TECH TECH and Deliverables

If your piece has electronics at all, you need to clear tech needs with me ASAP. We have to secure all the gear necessary for the festival ahead of time, and I need to know exactly what the tech needs are so we can coordinate the necessary equipment. Please visit the VIPA Composition page on our website for information on the electronics we are able to provide to you.

It has happened that people forget that they’ve added some fixed media part to their piece after sending it in, and then when we prepare concerts we’re not ready for the needs, so please send a note if you have any tech requirements (naturally, that fit our tech specs — see your acceptance letter). We will need to ensure needs are available for the concerts / rehearsals, so we can’t fulfill any needs on a whim. If you have tech needs (amplification, fixed electronics, etc) you must let me know, or we may otherwise not be able to fulfill those requests.

As a reminder, your tuition entitles you to an AUDIO recording of your work as performed in the concert, along with raw stems of the concert and dress rehearsal.

Re: Multi-cam Video

Lastly, I wanted to remind you of the optional 175€ fee for a professionally edited multi-camera video. Some of you have already expressed interest, and I’d like to know as soon as possible what total the interest is so I can contact with our partners to produce the multi-cam videos. These are documented at the festival and edited and put together with a third party. Thank you to those who have already requested these thus helping us to plan.

I think this covers all I have for now. I will be sending more “Great VIPA 2025 E-mail™️” messages as we keep inching closer, but in the meantime, do not hesitate to let me, Jorge, or Carlos know if you have any questions.