I.

Born in Mexico City in 1978, Santiago is a classical guitarist and composer living in Denmark. He studied composition and performance of classical guitar at Centro de Investigación y Estudios Musicales in Mexico City. He continued his studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in California, where he graduated as Bachelor and a Master of Music, in 2004 and 2006 respectively. There, he studied with Dusan Bogdanovic and David Tanenbaum. In April 2009 he graduated from the Soloist Class at The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, where he completed his studies with Danish guitarist Jesper Sivebæk. He has performed extensively in Europe, the United States and in Mexico, including stages such as Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City, Spigelzaal at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Festival Internacional Cervantino XXXIX ed. In Guanajuato, Mexico, Festival Instrumenta Oaxaca, Other Minds VII Festival at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, CA, and Århus International Guitar Festival. His repertoire ranges from improvisation and his own compositions, to more traditional languages such as Latin American, baroque, renaissance, and contemporary repertoire, both as a soloist and in a chamber music setting. His work has been published by Berben – Edizione Musicali, in Italy, and commissioned by ensembles and performers such as Kammerkoret CAMERATA, Mobius Trio, Duo Inviolata, CRAS Ensemble, Michael Kudirka and David Tanenbaum. In 2013 he released his debut album ‘Water Cycles’ together with Danish percussionist Matias Seibæk under the Danish label Gateway Music. In 2017 Santiago co-founded CRAS-Ensemble, a project dedicated to the collaboration between diverse art forms and new music written within the guitar sextet format. In 2008, Santiago developed the project SOUNDS OF MEXICO in collaboration with the Mexican embassy to Denmark, Norway and Iceland – an international platform for the promotion of Mexican classical music and the collaboration between Mexican musicians and artists from other countries. In 2011 he was named one of Mexico’s touristic ambassadors among other artistic personalities who stand out in the promotion of Mexican culture around the world.