I’m Juan Pablo Orrego Berríos, a Chilean composer, songwriter and sound artist living in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. Under the name Fitzroya, I bring together electro rock, folk and electronic sound, combining Spanish-language lyrics, electric guitar, drum machines and looping.

My background in contemporary composition continues to shape the way I write songs. I’m interested in the space between a recognisable song and something less predictable: how sound, rhythm and texture can expand a musical idea without losing its emotional core.

I studied composition at the University of Chile with Pablo Aranda and Cirilo Vila. In 2007, a DAAD scholarship brought me to Germany, where I studied with Caspar Johannes Walter at the Stuttgart University of Music until 2009. In 2016, I completed a Master’s degree in Composition and Music Theory at the University of Music Basel, studying with Walter and Jakob Ullmann.

Alongside songwriting, I compose concert music and work across different artistic contexts. My projects include Cumpleaños, music for toys (2013), Klangtaucher at the ZeitRäume Basel Biennale (2015), and Community in Progress – Allmonde (Episode 4) at Theater Basel (2016), as well as works for chamber ensembles and percussion. From 2019 to 2021, I developed Música para cuerdas pulsadas, a project dedicated to publishing scores by Chilean composers and commissioning new works.

In 2009, I co-founded figura ediciones musicales, an independent music publishing initiative. I was also a member of the Chilean folk-rock band Bombyx Mori from 2002 to 2010.

With Fitzroya, I inhabit the song and explore its possibilities. My music draws on different traditions and experiences, without needing to settle into just one of them.