Santiago Serrate (1975) began his musical education at the Conservatoire Superior of Barcelona where he studied double bass, piano and composition. He was also for a double bass pupil of Ludwig Streicher at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid where in 1998 he was awarded a diploma (presented by H.M. the Queen) for the most dedicated student of his year. He studied conducting with Antoni Ros Marbà, Arturo Tamayo, George Hurst and Otto-Werner Mueller.
He conducts the most important Spanish orchestras and theatres frequently and also in Portugal, Greece, Germany Italy, China and México. His great commitment to contemporary music is very strong with concerts, recordings and 122 world premières and 36 national premières with the Modus Novus and the Sax Ensemble where he was Music Director for 10 years.
In the Opera and Ballet world he has conducted in the Barcelona’s Gran Teatro del Liceu, the Galicias's Auditorium, in Mallorca's Teatre Principal in Madrid's Teatro Real and Teatro de la Zarzuela in Opera for Catalonia, in the Palau de Les Arts of Valencia and in the Seville's Teatro de la Maestranza, with the Ballet de Lyon and in the Theater Chemnitz. He had conducted the first Spanish Performances of L'Ape Musicale by Lorenzo Da Ponte, il Prigioniero by Dallapiccola and Sarka by Janacek with a great success. He had conducted and recorded thanks to a BBVA Foundation Leonardo Grantee, the world first performance of Tomás Marco's chamber opera TENORIO in the El Escorial Music Festival. Recently he had premièred Jorge Muñiz opera Fuenteovejuna for the Oviedo Opera in the Campoamor's Theatre with a great success and in the Tenerife's Opera.
In his opera repertoire are 71 different tittles working with artists like Plácido Domigo, Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel, Juan Pons, Roberto Alagna, Dolora Zajic, René Pape, Sondra Radvanovsky, Carlos Álvarez, L.eo Nucci, Pretty Yende, María Orán and Gregory Kunde among others.
He has been a member of the jury of the Yamaha-Hazen Intercentros Competition, the Grandstand for Young Composers and Performers of the Sax Ensemble Foundation, the Ferrer-Salat Foundation Music Scholarships and the Leonardo Scholarships to Researchers and Cultural Creators of the BBVA Foundation.
He regularly gives masterclasses and conferences at the International University of La Rioja, at the Complutense University and the Madrid Royal Conservatory of Music, Sabadell Musical Youth, Wagner's Club in Barcelona and at the Sevillian's Association Friends of the Opera and at the University of Seville.
He is concertation teacher in the Fundación Ramón Areces "Alfredo Kraus" Voice Chair and a instrument Sponsor of the Reina Sofía High School of Music, teacher and guest conductor in the Liceu Superior Conservatory of Music, teacher in national and international conducting courses and a mentor of the Talent's generation program of the Princess of Girona's Foundation. Santiago Serrate is currently the director of the BBVA Foundation Music Season 2023-2024.