Octavio Vázquez

Octavio Vázquez Rodríguez (born September 10, 1972) is a Galician-American New York based composer of classical music.

Biography

Born in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain), Vazquez spontaneously started writing music at age 7. At age 12 he became music director at St. Peter's church in Lugo. In 1989 he moved to Madrid, where he studied at the CAM Conservatory and the Madrid Conservatory, taking degrees in piano, theory, and accompaniment. After winning the prestigious Barrié de la Maza Foundation Scholarship, he went on to study composition at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and afterwards obtained a doctorate from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was on a full Fellowship. Since 1999 he resides in New York City.

He is primarily interested in the "...emotional impact [of his music] and direct communication with the listener" . His music has been described as "...a burning torch for the next century" by Mark Greenfest, of the New Music Connoisseur. Collaborations include musicians such as Víctor Pablo Pérez, Dmitri Berlinsky, Ilya and Leonid Finkelshteyn, Jonathan Gandelsman, Daniel Gaisford, Eldar Nebolsin, Gintaras Janusevicius, the Flatiron Trio, the Monument Piano Trio, Viacheslav Dinerchtein, Julian Gargiulo, and Grammy Award winner Cristina Pato.