Winner of a 2020 John Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Mexican-born American composer José-Luis Hurtado’s music has been performed across continents by ensembles and soloists such as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, JACK Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble ICE, Talea Ensemble, Earplay Ensemble, Juilliard Ensemble, New York Miniaturist Ensemble, Seattle Chamber Players, Iowa CNM Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort, The Ikarus Chamber Players, SEM Ensemble,  Sigma Project Sax Quartet, The North/South Consonance Chamber Orchestra, Interensemble, Concorde Ensemble, Quinteto Latino, Ensamble 3, Ensamble Ónix, Versus 8 Percussion Quartet, Orquesta Uninorte, Orquesta Sinfónica de Guanajuato, Orquesta Sinfónica de San Luis Potosí, National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Philarmonic Orchestra of the National University of Mexico OFUNAM, Camerata de las Amérícas, CEPROMUSIC Ensemble, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Quatuor Molinari, Pierrot Lunaire Ensemble Wien, Stephen Drury, Ben Roidl-Ward, Émile Girard-Charest, Lora Kmieliauskaite, Tony Arnold, Garth Knox, Claire Chase, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne and the Arditti String Quartet among others.

He has been the recipient of the Kompositionspreis der Stadt Wolkersdorf (Austria), the Harvard University Green Prize for Excellence in Composition (USA), the Rodolfo Halffter Ibero-American Composition Prize, the Adelbert W. Sprague Prize (USA), The George Arthur Knight Prize (USA), the Micro-Jornadas de Composición y Música Contemporánea Prize (Argentina), the Julián Carrillo Composition Prize (Mexico), el Premio Estatal de Composición del Festival Internacional de Música Contemporánea de Michoacán (Mexico), the Morelia Orchestral Composition Competition (Mexico), the José Tocavén Lavín Medal in recognition of his artistic trajectory, 2nd prize in the Troisieme Concours International de composition du Quatuor Molinari (Canada), 2nd prize in the Ariel Piano Composition Competition, Third Prize Winner of the National SCI/ASCAP Composition Competition, and finalist of The Earplay Composition Competition, The Look & Listen Festival Composition Competition and The Jeunesses International Composition Competition (Romania). Grants and Fellowships include those from the National Endowment for the Arts of Mexico, the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (USA), Ibermúsicas, the American Music Center, and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation (Italy). He has just been named member of the prestigious Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte grant in recognition of a distinguished artistic trajectory. The SNCA is a government supported program that converges the most renown artists of Mexico, including writers, visual artists, dancers, film makers, and composers.
 

His third portrait album, featuring the Mexico City–based Laboratorio de Música Nueva together with distinguished guest performers, presents five of his recent compositions for strings, percussion, and piano. It was released in October 2025 on the prestigious Austrian label Kairos. His music can also be heard on recordings released by ATMA Classique (Canada), New Focus Recordings (USA), Con Brio Recordings (USA), and Urtext (Mexico). His works are published and distributed by BabelScores, the French publisher specializing in contemporary music.

In addition to his compositional career, he is highly active as a pianist and music advocate. He is the pianist of Low Frequency Trio (Contemporary Bass clarinet, double bass, and piano ensemble), founding member of áltaVoz (Latin-American composers collaborative in the U.S), and former director of The Harvard Group for New Music.

Hurtado holds degrees in piano performance and composition from Conservatorio de las Rosas (Morelia, Mexico), a Master of Music in Composition from Universidad Veracruzana (Xalapa, Mexico) and a Ph.D. from Harvard University where he studied under Mario Davidovsky, Chaya Czernowin, Magnus Lindberg, Brian Ferneyhough and Helmut Lachenmann.

Hurtado is currently Full Professor of Theory and Composition at the University of New Mexico where he also founded, directs and curates the Music from the Americas Concert Series, and directs the New Music New Mexico Contemporary Ensemble.