Considered by the international press as one of the most active and recognized composers of the musical scene, Felipe Perez Santiago has received several prizes, awards and recognitions in Europe, United States, Asia and Latin America including, among many others, the composition prize of the Kronos Quartet in USA, the electronic music prize in Bourges, France, the music for dance competition by the Onassis Foundation in Greece, the Betty J. Meyers grant in Washington, the National Performance Network award in Austin, a platinum album in Mexico, the Best Music Award at the Miami Film Festival, and numerous international grants.
He holds diplomas and master’s degrees from prestigious music institutions: The Center for Research and Musical Studies (CIEM) in Mexico, the Royal Schools of Music in London, and the Rotterdam Conservatory in The Netherlands.
In Mexico, he is an honorary member of the National System of Art Creators, he represented his country before the UNESCO at the International Composers Rostrum and was considered by the Mexico City cultural website as one of the 7 most recognized national artists worldwide. In 2021 he was awarded with the “Trajectory Award”, given by the Composers Society of Mexico (SACM) for 25 years of uninterrupted and successful career as a composer, and in 2023 he was appointed as Cultural Ambassador of the “Global Network of Learning Cities” also by the UNESCO as a recognition for his work with children and youth orchestras.
He is founder and artistic director of the Mal’Akh Ensemble and the Vórtice Ensemble and Orchestra, formations of flexible instrumentation where he combines chamber music with all kinds of musical genres and collaborates with composers and performers from all over the world. With both projects he has extensively toured and recorded, and has received several grants, prizes, and recognitions. He is also the musical director of the ONIX Ensemble (oldest ongoing contemporary music ensemble in Latin America), and he has recently been appointed as the musical director and conductor of the orchestra of the “Estudios Churubusco”, main film studios in Latin America, to oversee all film music projects and new music recordings at this historical institution.
His music has been commissioned and performed in more than 40 countries in some of the most important theaters, concert halls, venues, and festivals, and is included in more than 30 discographic productions worldwide including orchestral pieces, operas, chamber music, solo pieces, electronic works, and music for films, dance, video, and multimedia installations. He has been as well invited as resident composer, teacher and guest lecturer to conservatories, universities, and institutions all over the world. He is also artist in residence at the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) in California, where he founded and directed “The Earthling Project”, which consisted on a compilation of human voices from all over the world that created a sonic legacy representing the sounds of humanity and was sent into space on January 8th 2024 as part of the “Peregrine” mission by the Space Agency Astrobotic in collaboration with NASA and then landed on the moon on February 22nd with the Odysseus lander in collaboration with Space X.
This sound installation was commissioned for the exhibition “Nombrar__” As the name suggests, the installation consists of listening to the sounds of your name from a non-alphabetical perspective. Each letter is associated with a sound or a series of sounds that, when written on an interface, reacts to the letters that make up the name, producing a small musical composition consisting of a series of sounds assigned to the letters in that name. The sounds range from musical to abstract, from harmonic to noise, from formal to comic, making this a playful experience for users.
This sound installation, Sonus Nomine, was created in collaboration with the digital programming company Webcorp and sound producer Luis García.
