Gabriel Santiago Born in Brazil (1980), 2010 ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award Winner, Gabriel Santiago is a Composer/Arranger/ Acoustic and Electric Guitar Player. Called by JazzTimes Magazine “a young master at both the acoustic and electric guitars” and his compositions defined as “stunners”, Santiago recently completed his Doctoral Degree in Music Composition at the University of Texas at Austin, where he won the 2013 Outstanding Dissertation Award and the 2010 Eleanor A. Stribling Award for Excellence in Jazz Studies. His solid background also features studies with jazz masters Pat Metheny, Adam Rogers and Maria Schneider. Santiago has collaborated with a wide variety of artists includingEsperanza Spalding, Chris Potter, Stefon Harris, John Clayton, Terence Blanchard, Janek Gwizdala, Carmen Bradford, André Mehmari, Romero Lubambo, Odair Assad and Gilson Peranzzetta among others. He also has collaborated with Recording Engineer Master Rupert Neve several times, and was invited to be the first artist to record with Neve’s first ever line of microphones. Gabriel has been composing music for a wide variety of ensembles (ranging from Symphony Orchestra to Chamber ensembles, Big band to Jazz Combos), styles and medias including Film, TV, and Internet. His music is fresh and carries all of his influences that range from Brazilian Music to Jazz and Classical Music. He has been featured as a guest artist at Universities, colleges and concert halls across America, including The University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, The Dallas Wind Symphony among many others. With The Gabriel Santiago Quintet, he has been touring US and Brazil in support of the self-titled DVD, opening concerts for Artists such as Pat Metheny and Robert Glasper. Along with leading his Quintet, Santiago has been writing and performing with The Gabriel Santiago Orchestra. The ensemble recently released the DVD/CD ALIVE, featuring his jazz orchestra compositions exclusively. Japanese newspaper “Big Band News” reviewed ALIVE as “the best big band album of 2012,” out of 250 other albums. Recent career highlights feature a 22-minute piece for Symphony Orchestra and commissioned works/arrangements from the UT Trombone Choir and Dallas Wind Symphony. Santiago has just released two new records, Connections – featuring Justin Vasquez (Saxophones), Thiago “Big” Rabello (Drums) and Sidiel Vieira (Contrabasses) – where focus was given to original arrangements of renowned Brazilian composers including Milton Nascimento, Baden Powell and Edu Lobo along with Jazz Master John Coltrane. Another new project, Metropole (alongside members Thiago Rabello, Sidiel Vieira and Zé Godoy) was just released in Japan through Rambling records. www.gabrielsantiagoproject.com