Hailed by the press as “a burning torch for the next century… stunning… superb” (The New Music Connoisseur), “a polychromatic powerfield… profound feeling” (Kölner Stadt Anzeiger), melodicism and rhythmic buoyancy” (The New York Times), “astonishingly virtuosic” (Soundboard Magazine), the music of Octavio Vazquez has been performed throughout the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia, and recorded for labels including Naxos, Delos, and Odradek, and by national radio and TV networks in the US, Canada, Spain, Russia and China. His works have been performed by conductors such as Carlos Kalmar, Rossen Milanov, Dima Slobodeniouk, Paul Daniel, and Andreas Delfs, and by soloists as Hilary Hahn, Dmitri Berlinsky, Johnny Gandelsman, and Eldar Nebolsin. He has also written for film and collaborated with crossover artists as an arranger, orchestrator and producer, most notably with Silkroad Ensemble’s bagpiper and pianist Cristina Pato.

He has received commissions and funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Spanish Radio & TV Orchestra, Galicia Symphony Orchestra, Royal Galician Philharmonic, Aspen Music Festival, and Xacobeo Classics Festival among others. Winner of numerous national and international prizes, recent recognition includes I-Park Foundation, MacDowell, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) Fellowships. He also keeps active as a pianist and conductor. Following the 2021 premiere of his piano quintet with the American String Quartet at the Aspen Festival, Harvey Steiman wrote for The Aspen Times “a highly satisfying new piano quintet …Vazquez played his piano role with vigor and crystal clarity, and seemed to light a fire under the members of the quartet …terrific energy”.

A graduate of Madrid’s Salazar Conservatory (BM) and Royal Conservatory of Music (MM), Peabody Conservatory (MM), and the University of Maryland, College Park (DMA), Vazquez also teaches at the Nazareth University School of Music, where he directs the Composition program. More information at www.octaviov.com