about me
Mexican/Canadian composer.
Writes music for live performances, electronic music, and sometimes for films.
Teaches music theory and composition.
Plays guitar in a band.
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I was born in Mexico City and have lived in Vancouver, Canada since 2003 where I write concert music, electronic music, and sometimes even film music.
Some recent highlights in my career as a composer include a number of commissions from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Blueridge Chamber Music Festival, and Music on Main. In the summer of 2023, I also had the wonderful opportunity to travel to my hometown of Mexico City to film a video of my work for flute and electric guitar Wave Remote commissioned and performed by the McGregor-Verdejo Duo.
The music I write is sometimes difficult to categorize as each individual composition is sometimes written for a very specific instance. I've created incidental electronic music for promenade theatre, brass orchestra music for dance troupe, and site-specific music for 18 electric guitars for the atrium of the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library. Writing music for this variety and range of opportunities has been a very powerful source of creative fuel.
Having extraordinary artists perform and engage with my music, is one of the most rewarding aspects of composing, and I've had the privilege to work with some exceptional talent like Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, composer/songwriter Gabriel Kahane, dancer and choreographer Margie Gillis, and Vancouver indie legend Veda Hille. I also get to collaborate frequently with incredible artists and Canadian treasures that I consider great friends, like pianist Miranda Wong, poet Colin Browne and flautist Mark Takeshi McGregor.
I have also been able to have my work performed by a number of really wonderful ensembles that I admire. These include the NYO Canada, Standing Wave Ensemble, Hyvinkää Orchestra, Turning Point Ensemble, Orchestre de la Francophonie, musica intima vocal ensemble, the Victoria Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and most recently the Lisbon University Youth Choir.
In 2010 I graduated from formal training in the tradition of European Western music at the University of British Columbia where I wrote a string quartet for my doctoral dissertation based on the idea of impermanent large-scale form. My teachers at UBC included Dorothy Chang and Keith Hamel, and shortly after graduating, I became the inaugural composer in residence for the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC (2011-2014), and also became an Associate Composer with the Canadian Music Centre.
My work in film scoring has been varied, and I recently received a Western Canadian Music Award Nomination for 2022 Media Composer of the Year for the film Chained. An early work in 2006 won Best Film Score prize at the NexT International Film Festival Awards in Bucharest for my score in the early films of acclaimed director Jamie Travis.
Over the last few years I have been playing guitar in the Vancouver-based avant-rock band called Square, and produce and perform as Ghost Shepherd, a music project with my partner, writer Alisen Santa Ana.
Most recently, in November of 2024, I released an album of my music for piano performed by Miranda Wong, called Before the World Sleeps, and served as a mentor composer alongside composers Linda Catlin Smith and Jeffrey Ryan for Standing Wave Ensemble's composition workshop Compocon. In June of 2025, I will travel to Portugal to hear my piece choral work The River of Hellos and Goodbyes as an International Jury Selection to the 2025 ISCM World New Music Days in Portugal, and on April 8, 2025 I will be have an evening-length concert produced by Vancouver's Music on Main titled, One Night Stand: Alfredo Santa Ana.
In 2023 I joined the faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music, where I enjoy teaching music theory and composition.
If you want to reach me you can send me email me at asa(at)alfredosantaana.ca