MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST

COMPOSER/ARRANGER

Multi-Instrumentalist:

My life has been "music" since the day I was born, and that led me to learn and play a variety of instruments and styles from a very early age.

I definitely grew up surrounded by music and art. Both of my parents are musicians; my father Alberto Grau, a great contemporary composer/arranger, and one of the most important choir conductors of Latin America (founder of the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela); my mother Isabel Palacios, great contralto, and conductor of the early-music ensemble "Camerata de Caracas" ... both very important characters in the development and growth of Venezuela's classical music scene.

I guess my first encounter with music was through choral music ... my parents just couldn't leave me home, so there I was, at the rehearsal space, trying to sleep over a vast repertoire of choral music ... until the day I got a hold of my first instrument, "a drum". My mother says I could hold a steady rhythm at age two, and the whole choir sang on top of my drumming.

That's why, my list has to start with "percussion", as the number one instrument, my love at first sound, and my all-time-very-serious hobby, that has taken me to some of the most important stages of the world, allowing me to share with amazing artists like Maria Schneider Orchestra, Rolando Villazón and the Labeque sisters.
I play mostly "hand" percussion (congas, bongó, batá drums, cajón, chekeré, etc.) in the styles of: Venezuelan music, Afro-Cuban and Flamenco.

My second instrument on the list is "the cello". This instrument was my official introduction to music studies, at the early age of three.

My parents, after seeing a clear interest from my part on everything and anything that had to do with music, decided that "the cello" was the instrument for me.
This beautiful instrument and my conservatory studies definitely gave me structure, discipline, and introduced me to the world of symphonic orchestras at the age of eight.
Later, related to the cello, I also learned to play "the viol" (or viola da gamba).

The third instrument I learned, introduced me to the marvelous world of "popular music". This is Venezuela's national instrument "the cuatro". I played this instrument with a passion, and it helped me to set my own personal balance between "the fun" of popular music and "the focus" of classical music ... it also opened the "music-conducting" door for me, as I led traditional Venezuelan groups throughout my whole childhood as a cuatro player.

Last but definitely not least, "the piano". My love for this instrument came after my love for keyboards and synthesizers. I have been into technology my whole life, and the idea of having an instrument that could produce the sounds of "anything" I wanted, was just unbelievable to me. Eventually, this opened a whole new music-world to me, and through the piano, Latin music and Jazz came into my life.

So, there I was ... a teenager that was combining music styles and learning how to talk in many music vocabularies at the same time.

... For a long time I didn't understand "why" I did this ... now, when I see myself producing albums, composing scores for orchestra and choir, and playing with great projects and artists all over the world, everything makes sense... Music IS my life.

MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST

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