Santiago Acosta Velasco

Santiago Acosta Velasco is a young Colombian flutist born in Bogota, forging a career in the field of academic music in Europe since 2020. He is recognized for his remarkable flexibility in interpreting pieces of different styles, his technical neatness and his great expressiveness. His repertoire is composed of a variety of works in different styles, including music by contemporary composers, Colombian composers and music belonging to the traditional repertoire for flute.

During his career he has been winner and finalist of numerous national and international flute competitions such as: the Regional Flute Festival of Southwestern Colombia in 2017, Young soloists 2019 of the Cali Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dutch international Flute Competition in Itterwoort, Holland in 2021, the series of Young Performers 2021 of the Luis Angel Arango Library, where he is currently playing in the professional concert series.

In addition, he has participated in various music festivals in Germany, Colombia, Costa Rica, Italy and the United States such as: The Midwest Clinic in 2017, Flautissimo in 2019, the Weimarer Meisterkurse in 2021, among others.

Thanks to his excellent performance as a student throughout his career, he has received master classes with renowned members of the international flute scene such as Emmanuel Pahud, Wally Hase, Andrea Oliva, Carin Levine and Mario Caroli.

He has given concerts in Europe and Colombia in various venues such as: Die Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, The Concertgebow in Amsterdam, das Konzarthaus in Vienna, die alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Colón Theater, the concert hall of the Luis Ángel Arango Library, among others.

During 2021 and 2022 he was a member of the Colombian Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he toured Germany, Austria and Holland under the direction of Maestro Andrés Orozco Estrada.

As of 2022 he is a member of the Staatskapelle Weimar where he acts as a substitute and has participated in projects and concerts of various orchestras in Germany such as: Die Jeaner Philharmonie, der Thüringer Synphoniker and die Meininger Hofkapelle.

He is also an active undergraduate student at the Franz Liszt School of Music in Weimar since 2020 in the class of the renowned Hungarian flutist Anna Garzuly-Wahlgren and from September 2023 in the class of Maestro Mario Caroli in Strasbourg, France. During his studies in Weimar he has been the beneficiary of various incentives such as the Deutschlandstipendium and is a scholarship holder of the Live Music Now concert program, which is responsible for bringing music to people who can no longer attend a concert hall for various reasons.