Carlos Zárate is interested in the potential of other artistic expressions to inspire musical ideas, the use of self-similar processes to generate, grow, and organize material, and how the interplay of multiple simple algorithms can produce complex results. He lives in Chicago, pursuing a PhD in Composition and Music Technology at Northwestern University, where he studies with Alex Mincek and Jay Alan Yim. He holds an MM in Interdisciplinary Digital Media Composition from Arizona State University, where he was a Fulbright Fellow under the guidance of Fernanda Aoki Navarro and Gabriel Bolaños. Carlos also earned a Bachelor’s degree in Composition and Music Theory from the Centro de Investigación y Estudios de la Música (CIEM) and studied independently with Iván Naranjo. His music has been performed at festivals such as Duologue Festival, Ear Taxi Festival, New Music on the Point, SPLICE Institute, Foro Internacional de Música Nueva “Manuel Enríquez,” Festival Visiones Sonoras, and PRISMS Music Festival by ensembles and soloists like Fonema Consort, Popebama, Modney, Ensamble CEPROMUSIC, Brightwork Ensemble, Jack Thorpe, and Alicia Castillo among others.