Background and expertise
A composer, pianist, and conductor, Octavio Vazquez has had his works performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the National Auditorium of Spain, Cologne's Philharmonie, and the Big Hall of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He joined the Nazareth faculty in 2014.
Vazquez has also written for film and collaborated with world-music artists as an arranger, orchestrator, and producer, most notably with Silkroad Ensemble member bagpiper and pianist Cristina Pato. His orchestration of "Negro Caravel" for Pato's CD Muller was nominated for the 2011 Spanish Music Academy Awards. His works have been recorded for labels including NAXOS, Delos, and Odradek, and by national radio and TV networks in the US, Canada, Spain, Russia, and China.
Notable performers of his works include conductors such as Andreas Delfs, Dima Slobodeniouk, Carlos Kalmar, Paul Daniel, Rossen Milanov, and Víctor Pablo Pérez, and soloists such as Hilary Hahn, Dmitri Berlinsky, Amaury Coeytaux, Johnny Gandelsman, Nurit Pacht, Eric Jacobsen, Adam Levin, Viacheslav Dinerchtein, Adam Kent, and Eldar Nebolsin.
Octavio Vazquez onstage after the U.S. premiere of "Maya" by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, 2023
Why Naz?
“Composition cannot be taught,” Bela Bartok famously said, and I agree. However, everything about composition is teachable: harmony and voice-leading, counterpoint, orchestration, forms, keyboard and conducting skills, new technology (including music engraving software and digital audio workstations, in such classes as Digital Composition and Scoring for Video Games), and many other specialized skills. At Nazareth, composition students receive a solid and comprehensive foundation in both traditional and contemporary compositional techniques, something increasingly rare today.
Personalized learning experience
Each Nazareth composition major receives weekly hour-long composition lessons from day one. Those lessons are tailored to their strengths, interests, and career goals, with no stylistic agenda. Students can focus on concert music, film and media scoring, jazz, contemporary commercial music, or anything else.
Extraordinary connections
We offer students excellent opportunities to develop professionally, and that includes everything from readings and recordings with professional ensembles to masterclasses with distinguished guest composers to for-credit collaborations with leading filmmaking and video-game schools.
Supportive community
We have a very welcoming and supportive composition studio and active student-run organizations such as the Naz Composition Club and Musica Mundana. They organize their own concerts (“Composer Nights”), study nights, and even trips across the country to attend professional music conferences.
Beauty and craftsmanship
I said before that we have no stylistic agenda in the composition program at Naz. A colleague of mine recently told me, “Sure you do! Everyone has an agenda.” So, I asked her what she thought my agenda was, and after pondering awhile, she said, “beauty and craftsmanship.” Well, I can subscribe to that! Beauty is my transcendental goal, and craftsmanship is the required means and a necessary byproduct of walking that path. Craftsmanship is not only about mastery of compositional technique; it’s performing and improvising as well. I continue to be active as a pianist and a conductor, which I think is crucial to remaining grounded and well-rounded as a musician.
Dr. Vazquez performs his Piano Quintet with the American String Quartet, 2022.
Sound advice
To prepare for the serious study of music composition and an eventual career as a composer, I would advise students to focus on the following:
- If available, take AP Theory, along with any training in music theory and aural skills you can get.
- Develop a good command of the piano or another keyboard instrument, even if it’s not your primary instrument.
- Learn to read music but also to play by ear, especially to figure out the chords of any piece you like.
- Sing in choirs, play in ensembles, and get as good as you can in at least one instrument.
- “Really” listen to music you like as well as music by the great composers of the past 500 years.
- If film and media scoring is your thing, study a DAW (we teach Logic at Naz) and digital music production.
Courses taught
- Applied Composition
- Composition Studio
- Orchestration and Arranging
School of Music Responsibilities
- Composition
- Theory
Vazquez with student Aaron Soltis '25, whose "The Odyssey of a Seafarer" composition won the 2024 Zicato Music Call for Scores Competition.
Student View
“Dr. Vazquez is probably the most influential professor I have ever had. His passion for music is beyond contagious: He wields it to shine a light in every single one of his students, showing unbelievable dedication to their individual journey, and providing world-class standards of excellence every day.
Years later I continue to uncover the ways in which those three years as his student have influenced me and made me into the capable professional and multilayered individual I am today. Time with Dr. Vazquez is invaluable, and aspiring composers who get the chance to study with him should consider themselves fortunate. The depth of his understanding of music, the brilliance of his practical application of it in his work, and his dedication as a teacher make every second of his lessons into a luxury.”
— Aaron Siebert-Castiñeira ’18, a composer who went on to complete a master's in music for film and contemporary media from Eastman School of Music
"Dr. Vazquez is a quality educator, charming storyteller, and an incomprehensibly learned individual — a philosopher in the truest sense of the word. Dr. Vazquez understands entirely every discipline he teaches, and after four years with him, I not only learned the essential musical skills required to compose, but how to approach learning itself. He is a conscientious mentor who cares genuinely for his students and is a role model that I will look up to for the rest of my life."
— Liam Frager '22, composer, who also completed a master's in music composition at SUNY Binghamton.
Fun fact
At age 12, I became the music director of a 13th-century church in the center of a 2,000-year-old town. I would go practice late at night, when no one was around, locking myself inside this massive stone building with six-foot thick walls, and practice up in the choir loft.
Strange noises soon started happening, first in the medieval tower (mice?). The noises grew louder, then much louder, this time coming from the main nave. I'd go downstairs and look everywhere, but there was nothing to be seen. There were cold drafts, though, and a funny bluish light at times.
If anyone has an interest in this kind of phenomenon, I still have a set of keys. You are welcome to spend a night there and find out for yourselves!"
When not working, Dr. Vazquez enjoys dancing Argentine tango, and has even started an informal tango club at Naz.
The reviews are in
- “a burning torch for the next century … extraordinary sensitivity ... intense passion … stunning … superb” - Mark Greenfest, The New Music Connoisseur, New York, 2003
- “the most outstanding composer of his generation” - M. Barba, La Opinion, Spain, 2004
- “astonishingly virtuosic” - Al Kunze, Soundboard Magazine, 2013
Faculty Spotlights
Wondering who else you can learn from — and who will support and challenge you? Check out Faculty Spotlights.