Rodrigo Santic originated his formal music studies at age 15, taking up classical guitar
and later focusing on music composition for three years in his native Santiago, Chile.
But he realized the saxophone was his passion and went on to spend the next decade
at the University of Chile’s Music Conservatory studying classical saxophone and
devoting himself to chamber music.
His musical success soon started taking shape. In 1997 he joined the Cuarteto de
Saxofones Villafruela, a sax quartet which has showcased its classic and contemporary
musical skills through live performances and radio and television appearances in Chile,
Argentina and Bolivia. The group released a two-disc album called “Saxofones en
Latinoamérica,” a repertoire of Latin American music and “Saxofón en Concierto,
compositores chilenos 1988-1998,” which consists of contemporary works by Chilean
composers.
Rodrigo also played for the musical score featured in the short film “Miradas del
pasado.”
Throughout this time, Rodrigo performed with various orchestras, including Juvenil
de Santiago, National Youth Symphony, Symphony of Chile and the Santiago
Philharmonic.
His musical accomplishments were further recognized when he received scholarships
from the Andes Foundation in 1999 and the Friends of the Santiago Municipal Theater
Corporation in 2002.
Then the countless hours spent in the conservatory’s basement paid off when Rodrigo
earned a Bachelor of Arts with a focus on music performance for saxophone in 2001,
followed by another degree in saxophone performance in 2003, both with highest
honors.
Yet jazz continued to beckon him, even taking on a parallel role with his classical
studies. He participated in various international jazz festivals as a member of Los
Andes Big Band and jazz groups. In 2003, he was the guest saxophonist for Grupo
Lucybell in the XLIV Festival Internacional de la Canción de Viña del Mar.
Once he was done with his studies at the conservatory, Rodrigo left his home country
and set out to travel the world, accompanied by his saxophone and the goal of
developing further as a musician. The next few years took him to Bologna, Italy and
Barcelona, Spain, where he studied jazz. After returning to Chile, he was sponsored by
the Chilean government’s Ministry of Foreign Relations for a series of musical
workshops and shows in the San Francisco Bay Area with the Cuarteto
Latinoamericano de Saxofones.
Since 2007 Rodrigo has been performing with various jazz, salsa and merengue bands
throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
It was in San Francisco where the concept of his first Album Cyclos and its
compositions were born.
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