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Julio A. Santillan
"Santillán meld styles from down south into a fresh distinctly jazz sound." -Time Out New York
About Me
Julio Santillán is a composer and guitarist from Tucumán, Argentina. His compositions
combine elements from his home land folk music, jazz improvisation and classical music.
He has studied classical guitar at Instituto Superior de Música (Argentina) under the
direction of maestro Pablo González Jasey. He graduated summa cum laude with a dual
major in Classical Composition and Contemporary Writing and Production from Berklee
College of Music (Boston, USA). He was a faculty member at Manhattan College from 2004
until 2009 (New York) and Escola de Musica Diesi from 2009 until 2012 (Barcelona).
Mr. Santillán received the following awards: Kunstgegen Foundation 2007 Music for
Modern Dance Performance Competition, 2004 Van Lier Fellowship, ASACPlus, Louis
Armstrong Jazz, the Arif Mardin and the Contemporary Writing and Production
Achievement.
As a composer/arranger he has produced music for documentary films, theater, recordings
and live performances for artists around the world. As a performer he has given concerts
and workshops in Argentina, Colombia, Finland, Greece, Canada, Spain, Italy, Romania,
Belgium, Germany, France, Czech Republic and in the US.
Julio Santillán has recorded over 40 CDs, including a play-along CD for “The Latin Bass
Book” (Sher Music, by Oscar Stagnaro), two albums with the Pablo Ablanedo Octet
(Freshsound records), four CD with Marta Gómez (BigSur records / Chesky Records /
Putumayo Records)- one of which was chosen among the best 10 records of 2003 by the
Boston Globe- and one with tango diva Katie Viqueira (Freshsound records)- Independent
Music Award winner, 2005 best World Music Album.
Julio Santillán plays solo and leads several ensembles. He and his groups have been
featured in prestigious venues and festivals such as “Blue Note Jazz Club” (New York),
Festival Guitarras del Mundo (Argentina) and George Enescu Festival (Romania). He has
released six CDs as a leader and has published two books with studies for guitar.
My Jazz Story
JASS = me!* *Julio Argentino Santillan Stagnetto