At age 7 he began his musical studies. At age 18 (in 2008) he moved to La Plata to study Composition at the Academy of Fine Arts (UNLP). According to Santiago, in an interview given in Uruguay , his interest in choral music – and voices in general – begin after facing a speech impediment that was resolved at age 15. Only through Mr. Veras’s motivation and desire to sing, was he able to overcome his speech issues and begin displaying his great talent as a composer and singer.
First years
Mr. Veros’s career as a professional composer commenced in 2013. He began writing choral music for the children’s choir in the municipality of Pilar in Buenos Aires. During those years, Veros would write emblematic works such as “Alleluia”. He would review what would later be one of his best pieces called “Almas de Barro” – a piece written in 2009 – an arrangement of “Dónde Caen Los Sueños» by León Gieco, and another arrangement by Pedro Guerra on the theme «Te Echo de Menos».
Additionally, Mr. Veros composed many short pieces with two voices. At the same time he began to publish his works on social network (Facebook) with great regularity and quickly gained notoriety in the world of choral music. In 2014, he received the commission to compose 2 works by the Chilean group Tersum Canticum. That’s when Santiago began to write «El Mar» – later renamed «Cuando Neruda Soñó» – and «New». That same year he was asked to compose a piece for the «Beneco Chorale» competition in the Philippines. This complex work called «Gotas», is a piece that recalls what happened during the 2013 La Plata Flood.
Career
From 2015 to 2017 Santiago began composing internationally. His complex writing continues to be well received in the United States where the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi choir premieres his work “Entre Humanos” and the CANTALA Lawrence University women’s choir choir, located in Wisconsin and considered one of the best female choirs of the world, interprets his «O Magnum Mysterium». Piece that a year later would be performed in Taiwan by the male choir Chien-Kuo High School Choir. To say goodbye to 2017, the Amici de Lumine choir performs an interpretation of “Cuando Neruda Soñó” in Cape Town. The following year the composer performs that same piece in virtual choir format, bringing people from all over the world together in the same video.
In 2018 Santiago Veros teaches higher training courses in Uruguay and becomes the first Latin American composer to write music for the world’s largest choral festival; the festival «Europa Cantat 2018 Tallinn, Estonia». There he premiered his work «Almas de Barro» performed by the Cypriot choir Cantus Novus Femina under the direction of Angelina Nicolaidou. A month later, Santiago will present for the first time a work in Argentina, and will be the 10-voice version of «Alleluia». This emotional act is performed by the Chambernse Chamber Member directed by Fernando Tomé in the City of La Plata. In November of that year the ECU Choir premieres «The Secret of Life» in the state of Texas. This work would have been the result of a failed order with director Brady R. Allred who knows Santiago at the Choral Symposium in Barcelona in 2017 and asks him to write this piece.
During 2019 Santiago has a creative explosion. It is then when he begins his alliance with Charles Anthony Silvestri, a world-renowned choral poet for having written Sleep’s poem with Eric Whitacre and for his collaborations in several works with the composer Ola Gjeilo. This is how Veros and Silvestri begin working on «Incertitude», a piece that is published in February of that year by Music Spoke at the American Choral Directors Association conference. Later this union brings to life «Radiance», the most extensive piece that the composer has written to date. The poem of this last piece serves as inspiration for Santiago to write the text and music of «La Magia del Río», a piece that will take the artist to travel to Cyprus.
During his stay in Cyprus Veros works with the aforementioned Cantus Novus Femina choir and at the same time directs pieces at the Choral Ethno Crossroads festival. Among his tasks was to provide repertoire for this festival and perform concerts. It is under this framework when they rehearse the work «La Magia deñ Río», a piece that talks about the brotherhood and the power of the union between humans. The most recent thing that the composer has announced on his social networks is the trip to Denver for the premiere of «Radiance» by the Cherry Greek Chorale choir. He has also announced his work «Human» that was released in Rochester, New York in March 2020 during the ACDA conference.
