Arnau studied contemporary composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London as an ABRSM scholarship holder studying with Helen Grime and Rubens Askenar, where he graduated with a first-class honors. His work has earned international recognition, including the PRIX ÉLAN 2024 in Paris, where his orchestral music won unanimous praise from the jury, orchestra, and audience. He has also received accolades such as the WCSMS Promising Young Composers Competition (Philadelphia, USA) and the Eric Coates Prize (London, UK). His compositions have been commissioned and performed internationally by ensembles including the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France (Paris), the Uusinta Ensemble (Finland), Bent Frequency (Atlanta, USA), Locrian Chamber Players (New York City, USA), Camerata Eduard Toldrà (Catalonia), and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (Switzerland).

As an electronic musician, he works with modular synthesizers and custom-made digital sampling tools, which allow him to manipulate the sounds acoustic sounds in totally unexpected ways. He is also a “beatbox” performer, which he integrates with drum machines. In order to talk about his aesthetic ideas, he has introduced some neologisms: “aural deepfakes“, “presence“ or “invisible electronics“. The software he develops for his own music, a lot of which is open source, has proved to be widely popular online, amassing over 8k downloads.

Arnau began his musical journey with jazz piano mentorship under Chano Domínguez and Marina Albero, and classical training at the IEA Oriol Martorell in Barcelona. As a performer, he has appeared at venues such as the Ateneu Barcelonès, Fundació Joan Miró (Festival Lluerna), CaixaForum Barcelona, UTOPIA 46, and the International Music Festival of Cadaqués.

Currently, he is a Composer in Residency 2024-25 at the prestigious IRCAM institute in Paris, which will lead to the premiere of a new work for oboe, symphonic orchestra and electronics, with Orchestre national d’Île-de-France in Festival ManiFeste. Future projects include a short opera commissioned by the Liceu Opera House in Barcelona.