José M. Sánchez-Verdú studied Composition, Orchestra Conducting and Musicology in Madrid, Siena and Frankfurt (Postgraduate Studies with Hans Zender). He has also a degree in Law (Universidad Complutense Madrid), and a Ph.D. (Universidad Autónoma Madrid).

His music has been performed by ensembles and orchestras such as Ensemble Modern, MusikFabrik, Ensemble Recherche, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Finnish Radio Orchestra, Orquestre de la Suisse Romande, Luzener Sinfonieorchester, and many others with conductors as Z. Mehta, R. Frühbeck de Burgos, P. Rundel, V. Jurowski, L. Zagrosek, S. Cambreling, S. Young, B. Furrer, E. Poppe, etc. His works have been featured in festivals such as Ultraschall Berlin, MärzMusik, Münchener Biennale, Wien Modern, Salzburg-Biennale, Musica Nova Helsinki, Ars Musica Bruxelles, la Biennale di Venezia, Lincoln Center New York, etc. He was Composer in residence in different festivals and orchestras in Germany, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Peru etc. In the last years he was Composer in residence with the Dresdner Philharmonie, at the Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada, and at the Palau de la Música in Valencia.

His music involves new dramaturgies, light, architecture and installation perspectives and has a special interest on the Arabic and Jewish cultures (poetry, mysticism, architecture, music and calligraphy) and on historical perspectives or on old instruments (gothic and baroques). His music theater pieces have been performed at the Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Luzerner Theater, Münchener Biennale, Teatro Real Madrid, Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires etc.

Sánchez-Verdú has previously been teaching at CSMA (Saragossa), at the C. M. von Weber Musikhochschule in Dresden, and at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover. Currently he is an Honorar-Professor for composition at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf and is also a Professor for composition at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música in Madrid. He has published many studies and papers about music aesthetics, Arabic aesthetics, architecture, opera, and new dramaturgies. Since 2022 he is part of the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. His works has been recorded in different monographics by labels such as Kairos, Col-legno, Verso, Columna Musica, Harmonia Mundi, etc. and are published by Breitkopf & Härtel.