Octavio Vázquez

Octavio Vázquez Rodríguez (born September 10, 1972) is a Galician-American New York-based composer of classical music.

Born in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain), Vázquez spontaneously started writing music at age 7.

While in Madrid he also worked as assistant conductor to Oscar Gershensohn and pursued graduate studies in conducting and musicology.

After winning the prestigious Barrié de la Maza Foundation Scholarship, he went on to study composition at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, and afterwards obtained his doctorate from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was on a full Fellowship.

[4] Well known for his contrapuntal technique and use of classical and romantic forms,[5] his doctoral dissertation piece "Hermes" exemplifies the post-modern attributes of his music, amalgamating formal structures of prelude and fugue, theme and variations, and sonata form, while thematically all the material is derived from a 5-note chord, first presented as Ab-C-D#-E-G.[6] Another significant aspect of Vázquez's music is its reflection of his Galician identity.