Carlos Roque Alsina was born on February 19, 1941, Buenos Aires, where he completed his formal studies in piano, music theory, and later composition on his own.

He began his career as a concert pianist at the age of six, with initial recitals in Latin America, then in Europe, in USA and Canada. He also performed as a soloist with major orchestras, conducted by Otto Klemperer, Jasha Horenstein, Manuel Rosenthal, Ernest Bour, Michel Tabachnik, Gilbert Amy, Semyon Bychkov.

He took an active part as both pianist and composer in the musical programs organized by numerous institutions : first "Nueva Musica" in Buenos Aires, from 1959 to 1964; then "Artists-in-Residence" in Berlin, from 1964 to 1966, where he had the possibility to work with Luciano Berio; and finally "The Center of Creative and Performing Arts" in New York, within the University of Buffalo, from 1967 to 1969. In 1966, he became Bruno Maderna's assistant at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and in 1969 he worked at the Juilliard School. In 1971, he received the "Guggenheim" price (New York) for his works Uberwindung and Schichten.

In 1972, after eight years in Germany, he moved to France. He was the cofounder of the improvisationn group "New Phonic ARt", which led him on many international tours. Since 1978, ha has devoted himself to teaching, along with his activity as a composer, and he has been invited to give courses as a gueset professor at numerous European musical institutions.

He has been often invited to sit on juries of international competitions. For nine years he held a professorship in pinao at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Lyon.

He has written, to date, more than a hundred works, most of which are commissions from musical institutions, primarily for full orchestra, largely featured in the international festivals of contemporary music (Berlin, Hamburg, Donaueschingen, Darmstadt, Vienna, Tanglewood Amsterdam, Paris, Royan, Metz, Lille, Venice). F or his fiftieth birthday, the Orchestre de Paris commissioned him a second symphony (Deuxieme Symphonie). Over the past ten years, Carlos Roque Alsina has been active as a performer, a teacher and a composer, working across Europe as well as China, Argentina, Canada and USA.

Among his recent works, "Phares et Rayonnements" (band, three performers and electroacoustic treatment in real time) was commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture, to celebrate the composer's contribution to French musical life, on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday. This anniversary led to a series of portrait-concerts, in homage to his diverse career.

Since 2003 he is the Artistic Director of the Ensemble MusicAvanti in Paris. In November 2004 he was awarded the Prix de Composition Paul-Louis Weiller by the Academie des Beaux-Arts (Institut de France) for his oeuvre. Naturalized French in 1986, Carlos Roque Alsina was appointed "Officier of the French National des Arts et Lettres".