Gerardo Giraldo
- Composer
- Music Department
Gerardo A. Giraldo Madrid is a composer, guitarist and music producer
born in Medellin, Colombia in 1977. A musician with broad interests,
Gerardo is active as both a performer and composer in a wide variety of
genres, from rock and pop to classical and film music. His musical
education started with involvement in Colombian dance music, performing
as a percussionist in more than 20 major festivals throughout the
country from 1991 to 1998. His true love, however, is the Guitar, an
instrument he strives to master to this day. His interest in popular
and concert music led to studies in Classical Guitar and Music
Composition at the University of Antioquia (oldest departmental
university in Colombia, founded 1803) in Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia,
and Eafit University (a private university), also located in Medellín.
While studying, he was a university student by day, and a rock musician
by night. His mentors included the Grammy award-winning songwriter and
music producer Ernesto "Teto" Ocampo, and composers Andrés Posada
Saldarrianga, Moises Bertran, Gustavo Yepes and
Mario Gomez Vignes. An in demand
guitarist since 2003, Gerardo has performed in over 300 concerts across
Colombia, Spain and Mexico. He has collaborated with dozens of artists
such as Colombian pop singer Naki and Jamaican reggae singer Jahmin
Jam. He has also served as music producer on a number of well-received
projects. In 2008 he produced "Interior", an album by singer/songwriter
Alejo García that was awarded "Best Album of the Year" by "Semana", one
of Colombia's leading magazines. Another artist he produced for,
singer/songwriter Jorge Uribe, reached #5 on the charts with "La
Colegiala". In 2009, Gerardo was selected as one of four composers to
write incidental music for a contemporary dance production based on
Federico García Lorca's play "La
Casa de Bernarda Alba" at the Metropolitan Theater of Medellin. The
music was released in a best-selling album on May 2009, and re-released
in November due to popular demand. In 2010 the play was included in the
International Theatre Festival in Bogota. Current projects include the
production of the second album for the band Eight Two, with the music
label Electric Diving School; and the production of the first album for
Dominican singer Wilda Méndez and Colombian songwriters Juan Builes and
Vladimir Gutierrez, in collaboration with Canadian drummer Colin
Kingsmore (Nelly Furtado), and Nashville guitarist Allan Ollendorff.
Gerardo is currently (2012) pursuing a Masters in Film Scoring and
Music Composition at NYU, where he has written music for a number of
student films.