José María Sánchez-Verdú was born in Andalucia, Spain and now lives in Berlin and Madrid. He studied composition, musicology, and orchestral conducting at Real Conservatorio Superior de Música Madrid (RCSM) and at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt with Hans Zender. He has a degree in law (Universidad Complutense Madrid) and a PhD at the Universidad Autónoma in Madrid.

His music has been performed by ensembles and orchestras such as Ensemble Modern, MusikFabrik, Ensemble Mosaik, Ensemble Recherche, KNM Berlin and many others in festivals such as Ultraschall Berlin, ECLAT Stuttgart, MärzMusikBerlin, Münchener Biennale, etc. He participated in many residencies, his most recent one being at the Asian Composer League in Korea (ACL-Korea International Conference & Festival) with lectures, seminars, and concert. As a conductor he worked with different ensembles and orchestras in Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Holland, Poland, Peru, Uruguay, Egypt, etc.

His works appeared in labels such as Kairos, Col-legno, Verso, Columna Musica, Harmonia Mundi, etc. and are published by Breitkopf & Härtel.