Santiago Santero

Santiago Santero, composer, conductor and music teacher, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1962.

He studied piano at the National Conservatory of Music, Orchestral Conducting and the Beaux Arts Faculty of the National University of La Plata, and Composition with Guillermo Graetzer and Mariano Etkin.

His first concerts as a conductor, based on classical repertoire, were given with Entre Ríos and Santa Fe Symphony Orchestras. Later, he started conducting contemporary music and and dedicated exclusively to this repertoire.

He founded and conducted several groups dedicated to contemporary music. Not only XXth century classics but also premiering works by present-day composers.

Since 1999, he collaborates in the programming of San Martín Theatre Contemporary Music Cycle in which he conducted a huge amount of concerts with international top level musicians. Also there, he premiered works by Argentinean and Latin-American composers and conducted several XXth century classics.

He is frequently invited as a conductor to the Colón Theatre Experimentation Center. There, he conducted concerts based on chamber music, dance and experimental events, musical installations, etc.

As a conductor and composer, he participated in several tours and festivals in Perú, Colombia, United States (New York), England (Dartington Summer Course) and Switzerland (Basel and Zurich).

His work as a composer includes chamber and stage pieces. His stage work "Estudio en estilo Veneciano" (Study in Venetian Style) was premiered and the Colón Theatre Experimentation Center in 1996 and got excellent reviews by specialized critics.

Also, his chamber works "Periplos" (Journeys) and "...y...y...y..." (...and...and...and...) were premiered at the same theatre in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Both pieces were performed by "Ensambles XXI", conducted by Alejo Pérez.

His work "Periplos" was included in a CD series edited by the National Fund for Arts named "Panorama de la música Argentina" (Argentinean Music Panorama).

He also composed music for the film “ANHUA, amanecer” (ANHUA, Dawn) that was premiered in Buenos Aires on December, 2004.

Some of his works have been performed by important international musicians such as Robyn Schulkovky and Pedro Carneiro (percussion), the english piano group Piano Circus, soloists from the Psaphaa Ensemble from England, Antidogma Musica from Torino, Modelo 62 from The Hague, Opera Nova from Zurich and Ensemble Recherche (Germany). Some Argentinean Ensembles that performed his music include: Ensambles XXI, Ensamble Süden, Quinteto Sonorama, Ensamble Sirius, Tropi Ensamble and Compañía Oblicua.

His work as a teacher includes an intense activity at the National Universitary Institute of Art, the Faculty of Beaux Arts of La Plata and de Superior Conservatory of Music "Manuel de Falla" in Buenos Aires.