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Mario Wellmann

Mario Wellmann is a Chilean guitarist, composer and music theorist whose work explores contemporary jazz, Chilean musical traditions and the relationship between place and memory. He has performed throughout the Americas and Europe, including appearances at Blues Alley, The Django, Jazz Forum, the Elkhart Jazz Festival, and Sala Master. He received two DownBeat Student Music Awards in 2022.

His debut album as a leader, Ecos del Sur, is scheduled for release on December 4, 2026. Recorded at Greyfade Studio in New York and co-produced with Grammy-winning engineer Joseph Branciforte, it features Guillermo López on double bass and Daniel Dufour on drums. Five trio compositions and five solo interludes trace an imagined road trip through south-central Chile. The album’s production received support from Chile’s Fondo de la Música in 2026. Wellmann’s recording credits include Alexa Torres Quartet’s In Situ, to which he contributed as guitarist, composer and co-producer; Of Narratives & Nocturnes with the Simeon Davis Group; I Carry Your Heart with UNT Jazz Singers; and 5th Harvest with UNT Latin Jazz Lab. His composition “Consolidation” was featured in Strings Magazine. He also co-leads Torres & Wellmann.

A PhD candidate in Music Theory at Columbia University, Wellmann holds MA and MPhil degrees in Music from Columbia and a master’s degree in neuroscience. He earned his second bachelor’s degree, a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies, at the University of North Texas. Currently a visiting scholar at UNAM with Columbia fellowship support, he brings music, cognition and learning into his research and teaching. His research has appeared in Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, The Neuroscientist, Neurobiology of Disease, among other journals.

In February 2027, he will be artist in residence at Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, Mexico. His planned recordings for 2027 include Estratos with Alexa Torres, Alan Villanueva Charly Rodrigues and Alejandro Lozano, and Reconstruction with the Alexa Torres Quartet.

Awards

- Two DownBeat Student Music Awards (2022)
- Fondo de la Música (2026; Chilean equivalent of the NEA).

Alexa Torres: In Situ

Read "In Situ" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
June 18, 2024

With balletic verve, Latin violinist Alexa Torres goes about her debut disc, the hugely confident, ear and eye opening In Situ, with an inquisitive gusto and aplomb that belies her thirty-one years. A skilled, peer-reviewed ethnographic researcher, Torres is also the first woman and first violinist to graduate from the University of North Texas jazz strings program. And she brings a wide open palette to the proceedings. Knowing through science and instinct, study and practice, that any particular ...

“clear, sparkling tones dance” — Mike Jurkovic, All About Jazz, June 18, 2024
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/in-situ-alexa-torres-self-produced

Primary Instrument

Guitar, electric

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

Mario Wellmann is a jazz guitarist, music theorist and educator specializing in evidence-based learning and musical skill acquisition. His instruction for intermediate to advanced guitarists integrates improvisation, contemporary harmony and fretboard fluency with research-supported approaches to practice, retention and musical understanding.

A PhD candidate in Music Theory at Columbia University, he holds an MSc in Neuroscience from Universidad de Valparaíso and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas. He founded Achieving Mastery in 2017, developing a curriculum informed by neuroscience, cognitive science and learning psychology. His approach translates principles such as retrieval practice, distributed practice, interleaving and self-explanation into practical tools musicians can use to structure their learning.

Primary Instrument

Guitar, electric

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

Wellmann previously held a tenured associate professorship at Universidad de Valparaíso and adjunct appointments at Universidad Andrés Bello, Universidad Santo Tomás and Universidad de Viña del Mar, teaching neuroscience-related subjects. At Columbia, he has served as a teaching assistant for Music Humanities and Music Theory IV. His published research includes “Research-to-Resource: Introducing Retrieval Practice in Jazz Pedagogy” in Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, alongside peer-reviewed neuroscience publications.

Clinic/Workshop Information

Mario Wellmann offers clinics and masterclasses connecting contemporary jazz improvisation with the science of learning. A guitarist, published researcher and university educator, he combines musical demonstrations with evidence-based strategies that participants can apply directly to their practice and teaching.

His offerings include “The Science of Practicing: Evidence-Based Strategies for Musicians,” which translates research on retrieval practice, spacing and interleaving into musical practice, and “Contemporary Altered Lines over Major, Minor, and Dominant Harmonies,” which develops improvisational vocabulary through harmonic minor, harmonic major, melodic minor and Messiaen’s Mode 3.

He has presented guest lectures and masterclasses at the University of North Texas, evidence-based learning workshops and courses at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, and an educator-focused seminar at Universidad del Bío-Bío. In Chile, his jazz masterclasses include a UNESCO-funded masterclass at Escuela de Música Surco in Concepción, alongside engagements at INIA in Chillán and Sala Musicar in Valparaíso.

A PhD candidate in Music Theory at Columbia University with an MSc in Neuroscience, Wellmann is the founder of Achieving Mastery and a former tenured associate professor at Universidad de Valparaíso. In February 2027, he will be artist in residence at Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, Mexico, with activities including masterclasses, performance and recording.

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