Gonzalo Varela

I am a composer, sound designer, audio programmer and guitarist born in 1990 in Montevideo, Uruguay. I am characterized by a strong interest in learning very different kinds of music, which allows me the resources needed to create according to my sensibility and the expressive needs of each moment. My passion for artistic collaboration has led me to work on four video games (including releases for Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft consoles, as well as Windows, iOS and Android devices), two feature films, eleven short films, ten theatre plays and one institutional video. I have received awards from Uruguay's Ministry of Education and Culture, Fulbright, the Uruguayan Choral Association and Columbia College Chicago among others, and compositions of mine have been played in concerts, festivals and workshops in eleven countries. Additional publications of my work include fourteen music albums, three books, one concert film, three software applications and eight studies, and as a performer I have given over 300 concerts in four countries. I hold a Master of Fine Arts degree, profile: Music Composition for the Screen, from Columbia College Chicago (United States), where my main professor was Kubilay Uner. I also hold two Bachelor's degrees from the Universidad de la República (University of the Republic) (Uruguay): one in Music, profile: Composition (main professor: Osvaldo Budón), and another one in Musical Performance, profile: Guitar (main professors: Ramiro Agriel and Gonzalo Victoria). In addition, I have studied composition with Coriún Aharonián, Joel Goodman, Ronit Kirchman and Chance Thomas, as well as music genres like Flamenco, Tango, Jazz, Candombe and Javanese Gamelan with various teachers. I have worked for composers such as Roque Baños, Tom Howe, Joel Corelitz, Ilya Levinson and Sebastian Huydts. I am currently a teacher at the Universidad de la República and have also held teaching positions at two other universities: Columbia College Chicago and Universidad Católica del Uruguay. Last update: 3 November 2021