Ramón Pagayon Santos
Ramón Pagayon Santos
Ramon Pagayon Santos was born on February 25, 1941. He received his Bachelor of Music Composition and Conducting from University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music in 1965, his Master of Music with distinction from Indiana University in 1969, and his Doctor of Philosophy from State University of New York at Buffalo in 1972. He was also a student in summer courses in New Music at Darmstadt in 1974 and in Special Seminars in Ethnomusicology at the University of Illinois in 1989. He has studied composition with Hilarion Rubio, Lucio San Pedro, Thomas Beversdorf, Roque Cordero, Ramon Fuller, and William Koethe. He has taken contemporary music courses with Istvan Anhalt and George Perle and has studied Ethnomusicology with Bruno Nettl. He has also studied Javanese music and dance with Sundari Wisnusubroto and Nan Kuan with Lao Hong Kio.
Santos has held the position of Commissioner of the Sub-committee on the Arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts since 1998, University Professor since 1995, Chairman and Secretary General of the Music Competitions for Young Artists Foundation from 1989 to 1997. He also currently holds the positions of Secretary of the League of Filipino Composers, Member of the ISCM Advisory Panel on the World’s Musical Cultures, Lecturer for the Asian Instituts for Liturgy and Music, Member of the Humanities Division of the National Research Council of the Philippines. His past positions include Artistic Director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Chairman of the Asian Composers League (1994-1997), Dean of UP College of Music (1978-1988), and President of the National Music Council of the Philippines (1984-1993).
Among awards he has received are Composer-in-Residence of Bellagio Study Center/Rockefellar Foundation (1997); Artist-in-Residence, Civitella Ranieri Center (1998); Acheivement Award in the Humanities from National Research Council of the Philippines (1994); Fellowships from the Asian Cultural Council and The Ford Foundation (1998-1989); and Chevalier de l’Ordre des Artes et Lettres, French Government.