photo: Olga Kuzmenko

Santiago Kodela is an award-winning Classical Guitarist & Composer working in the areas of concert, solo instrument, chamber, and choral music. His works explore various aspects of sound and harmony, adventuring intensely into the areas of iso-rhythms, metric modulation, and chord harmonization. 

In 2022 the album PINNACLE VOL. 2 was awarded the 2nd Prize Silver Medal by North-American Global Music Awards in the classical category. Furthermore, his piece Delicate Soliloquies was shortlisted as a finalist in the 2nd Composition Competition by the Dutch Guitar Foundation by a jury integrated by Steve Goss, JacobTV, and Nikita Koshkin. Towards the end of this year, and as part of an Irish Composers’ Collective initiative, Kodela premiered two new pieces in the ICC Salon 2022 festival. These include a piece for solo Clarinet in Bb and dance artist performed by Irish renowned clarinetist Paul Roe along Laura Sarah Dowdall; and a chamber ensemble composition for Irish Harp, Bassoon, Clarinet in A, and Oboe performed by the internationally celebrated Ficino Ensemble. As a member of GuitaRIAM (guitar ensemble of the Royal Irish Academy of Music), Kodela participated in a charity gig towards the Irish Red Cross in support of the Ukrainian crisis which raised a substantial amount of money. In the same year, Kodela started the Éire Guitar Duo along with Oscar Montague and are already in the process of writing new music and recording guitar duo pieces. 

2021 saw Kodela being awarded the 1st Prize Gold Medal at the 125th edition of the Feis Ceoil, Ireland’s largest classical music competition, in the category of Senior Classical Guitar. Additionally, he was further granted the Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award to further his compositions with Marco Ramelli. 

In 2020 he was given not one but two awards by the Arts Council of Ireland. These were the COVID-19 Crisis Response Award and the Professional Development Award. For the former, Kodela live-streamed a guitar recital of his own compositions to audiences across South-America, Europe, and Asia. For the latter, he developed a portfolio of guitar compositions under the guidance of Ramelli (Technological University Dublin). 

In 2018 Kodela completed a Master’s Degree in Music and Media Technologies from Trinity College Dublin, where he specialized in Audio Production and Contemporary Music Composition, completing his portfolio thesis under the guidance of Ann Cleare. As a performer, he began his guitar studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Música “Manuel de Falla” (Argentina) under the tutelage of María Catalina Bello. After years of outstanding academic performance, he relocated to Europe to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (Ireland). Guided by Marion Hyland, he excelled in the performance of the classical guitar. A recipient of the Gaiety Bursary (2016), he performed the legendary “Concierto de Aranjuez” with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under the baton of Gavin Maloney. 

Kodela toured extensively around both Argentina and Ireland and has taken countless masterclasses with some of the world’s top performers, names that include artists such as Berta Rojas, Xuefei Yang, Walter Malosetti, Odair Assad, and Craig Ogden, among others. Kodela’s non-guitar compositions have been performed and recorded by artists such as Fidelio Trio (London), Ficino Ensemble (Dublin), clarinetist Paul Roe (Technological University Dublin) along dance artist Laura Sarah Dowdall, Kühn Choir (Prague), pianist Adam Marks (New York), and the Benda Quartet (Czech Republic), among others. Publications and releases are managed internationally via PARMA Recordings and Navona Records.

Albums

The Distant Shepherd

The Distant Shepherd

Release Date: August 11, 2023
Catalog Number: NV6548
21st Century
Solo Instrumental
Guitar
THE DISTANT SHEPHERD from award-winning classical guitarist & composer Santiago Kodela explores the full timbral and emotive range of the instrument in a solo setting. His performance deftly employs iso-rhythms, metric modulation, and chord harmonization to breathtaking effect. Also known for his work in chamber and choral music, Kodela showcases the virtuosic prowess that won him the 1st Prize Gold Medal in the category of Senior Classical Guitar at the 125th edition of the Feis Ceoil, Ireland’s largest classical music competition. Through notes and chords, Kodela’s THE DISTANT SHEPHERD offers an evocative portrait of a lone shepherd tending to his flock.

Pinnacle Vol. 2

Release Date: September 24, 2021
Catalog Number: NV6368
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Clarinet
Piano
String Quartet
Navona Records presents PINNACLE VOL. 2, a collection of contemporary chamber works by composers John A. Carollo, Edmund Cionek, Sarah Wallin Huff, Santiago Kodela, Adnan Marafi, Amintas Silva, Joseph T. Spaniola, and Kong-Yu Wong, that highlight the melodic, emotive, and dramatic styles offered by today’s chamber music. Throughout the album, the composers explore the cyclicity of life and nature.

Sustain Vol. 2

Release Date: April 23, 2021
Catalog Number: NV6345
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Piano
Piano Trio
Saxophone
Two years after the release of SUSTAIN comes the long-anticipated follow-up, SUSTAIN VOL. 2. This fresh collection of works centered around the piano includes a range of contemporary compositional styles: tonal, atonal, and everything in between. This volume features a new cast of composers and performers, with contributions by Sarah Wallin-Huff, Karen Tarlow, Chen-Hsin Su, Bill Sherrill, Jim Puckett, Ron Nagorcka, Gordon Monahan, Kenneth A. Kuhn, Santiago Kodela, John Craven, and John A. Carollo. The album’s varied soundscapes and arrangements—including solo piano, piano and saxophone, and piano and strings—constantly surprise and delight the ear. A fitting sequel to the first installment, SUSTAIN VOL. 2 is steeped in the dynamic complexity piano music offers.

Voices of Earth and Air Vol III

Release Date: October 9, 2020
Catalog Number: NV6299
21st Century
Vocal Music
Choir
Organ
Judging by Navona's VOICES OF EARTH AND AIR VOL III, this century is facing a significant paradigm shift in contemporary composition. The third installment of the trailblazing series again showcases contemporary choral music, and once more, it is mesmerizing – mesmerizingly tonal and aesthetic.

Patterns

Release Date: August 9, 2019
Catalog Number: NV6243
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Cello
Guitar
Percussion
PATTERNS, a multi-composer compilation of contemporary chamber music, accentuates the richness, intricacy, and minimal sound that can be found in works written for small ensembles. Included on the album are works by seven composers, each offering a distinct interpretation of what defines the genre.