Erik Santos

Associate Professor of Composition and Director Electronic Music Studio
esantos@umich.edu
734-647-3337

B.Mus. in Voice Performance, Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania

M.Mus., D.M.A. in Composition, Univ. of Michigan

Professor Santos is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer who is active in many musical genres, from rock, to classical, to electronic, to music for theater and dance.

Professor Santos has received commissions, prizes, and fellowships for his concert music, including the Charles Ives Scholarship and the Charles Ives Fellowship from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI), the MacDowell Colony, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Rackham Graduate School of the University of Michigan, and he was named the 1999 "Shepherd Distinguished Composer of the Year" by the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA).

His latest commissions include Sun Road (Five Symphonic Dances for orchestra), for Matthew Savery and the Bozeman Symphony in Montana, and Kata-Kata, for the Equal Temperament Percussion Duo.  Kata-Kata, along with his Sun Dogs and Zauberkraft (Magic Power) were featured at the 2005 Percussive Arts Society International Convention, on a concert devoted entirely to his music.

In recent years, Santos has become increasingly preoccupied with presenting music in venues other than the classical concert hall  — dance clubs, street corners, radio, theaters, churches, car stereos, movies, internet, iPods, etc. — where there is more emphasis given to the interaction of music with other sensory elements, placing listeners at the hub of an experience. This interest flourished in 2002, when he was invited to join the pioneering and internationally-celebrated Japanese butoh (avant-garde dance/theater) company, Dairakudakan: Temputenshiki, as resident composer — a collaboration which continues to this day.

He is now working on a new solo rock record with lyrics in Japanese, Tagalog, and English, and an album of new alt-J-pop songs with collaborator Toko Shiiki. He is bass player and vocalist for a rock/country/funk/blues/jazz/bluegrass/latin/reggae band called CityGoat, and as the house bassist/background vocalist for T.C.'s Open Mic Stage in Ypsilanti, MI, is a central force in the development of the local music scene. 

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