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Patricia Lopez

Uruguay Montevideo
Main specialization: Saxophone Flute
Graduated
Manuel de Falla Conservatory (Buenos Aires)
Native language: Spanish Other languages: English, Portugues
Children: No

Patricia Lopez is an Uruguayan saxophonist, flutist, producer, and composer, with more than twenty years of experience. She has studied in many cities of the world and developed her own sound within the style of jazz, bossa nova, creative music, and Latin American rhythms.

She completed her primary studies in Montevideo and began studying music in 1998. From the beginning, she was interested in jazz music, improvisation, and composition. Her first instrument was the guitar.

In 2000, she became interested in studying the saxophone as the instrument with the greatest affinity to develop her own identity and began studying with Uruguayan saxophonists Santiago Gutiérrez and Alejandra Genta. Later, she entered the Municipal Conservatory of Music in Montevideo and studied for two years with maestro Jorge Binger.

In 2001, she began to study the flute as a complementary instrument to her wind specialization and attended classes at TUMP (Uruguay) with Inés Dabarca.

In 2006, Patricia settled in Buenos Aires (Argentina) for eight years, to study jazz, and expand her knowledge and professional experiences. Once established, she attended the jazz seminar with saxophonist Ricardo Cavalli, participated in the jazz ensemble with saxophonist Carlos Lastra, and studied harmony with pianist Miguel Marengo. She also studied saxophone and improvisation with saxophonists Ramiro Flores, Martín Pantyrer, and Ada Rave.

In 2010, she was accepted as a student of the Superior Conservatory of Music "Manuel de Falla"(Buenos Aires) and completed the Superior Technique in Jazz, specialty saxophone (2014). During her studies, she joined various projects, sessions, orchestras, and big bands as the first soprano, alto, tenor, baritone saxophonist, and flutist, such as “Chicago Big Band”, “Saxópatas orchestra”, “Renacimiento Pop Orchestra”, “Manuel de Falla Big Band”, “Bañares Big Band”.

In 2015 in Montevideo, she participated as a flutist in “Río de Lonjas” music composed by Uruguayan Federico Costa, which received the third National Music Award from the Ministry of Culture (MEC) in the candombe category.

In both 2015 and 2016, she participated in two editions of the Brazilian Popular Music Workshop (Curitiba - Brazil), attended improvisation Masterclasses with Brazilian saxophonist Vittor Alcántara (in San Pablo) and Marcelo Martins (in Florianópolis), performed the arranging workshop with Gonzalo Levin (in Montevideo), and attended the improvisation Masterclass with the Dutch saxophonist Ben Van den Dunguen (in Montevideo). At the same time, in 2016 she received a grant from FONAM (National Music Found) to attend the SIM -Workshop of Creative Improvisation - at the Brooklyn Conservatory (New York), receiving two weeks of intensive training with prominent musicians from the New York creative scene such as Tim Berne, Tony Malaby, Ralph Alessi, Michael Attias, Andy Milne, Chris Lightcap, among others.

In 2017, she settled for a year in The Hague (Netherlands) to continue her studies of composition and improvisation. During her residency, she studied saxophone with Floriaan Wempe and composition with Michael Moore and attended the EPM (School of Brazilian Popular Music, Rotterdam) participating in ensembles, chorinho sessions, and representing the institution in the prestigious Jazz Festival "North Sea Jazz". Through the Embassy of Uruguay in the Netherlands, she was selected to be part of the project of the book "Miradas sin Fronteras de aquí y de allá" by the Uruguayan journalist Heber Perdigón with French photographer Pascal Milhavet that brings together more than 100 Uruguayan artists living abroad.

In the Netherlands at the performance level, she performed on several stages in Amsterdam, The Hague, and Rotterdam, highlighting his participation in the jazz festival “Cutting Edge” at the “De Nieuwe Regentes” Theater (The Hague) closing the show by the great saxophonist Chris Potter.

 

After her residence in the Netherlands, Patricia returned to Montevideo at the beginning of 2018 and performed various live performances, including at the International Jazz Day celebration as a guest of the Fino Bingert Contemporary Quintet (Teatro Solís). At the same time, she organized and directed the presentation of “Jazz Five” - a local jazz musicians' collective with the special participation of the saxophonist Brendan Mc Govern (USA).


In April 2019, she made two presentations in the city of Buenos Aires leading the trio together with Pía Hernández (piano) and Santiago Lamisovski (double bass). In May, she attended the Jazz Workshop by Nguyen Le Hanoi trio (Vietnam) at the Solís Theatre (Montevideo) and the Creative Improvisation Masterclass performed by the American saxophonist Tony Malaby at AUDEM (Montevideo).

In July of the same year, she was invited to participate in the Valparaíso International Jazz Festival (Chile) leading the quartet made up of Sebastián Zinola (piano), Alfonso Santini (double bass), and Pablo Meneses (drums). After the good repercussions of her debut, Patricia later returned to Chile and went on a ten-concert tour accompanied by great musicians on the local jazz scene such as Claudio Rubio, Flash Trio, and Cristian Gallardo.

In August 2019, she made the recording of "Wanderlust" in Octógono Studio (Montevideo) the first debut album of her own compositions, accompanied by Manuel Ojeda (guitar), Damián Taveira (drums), and Ian Elizondo (double bass). The material is available on all digital platforms and has received excellent reviews on national and international radio stations such as the “Track of the day” on the “All about jazz” portal.
In October of the same year, she received the “Eduardo Víctor Haedo” scholarship from the MEC (Ministry of Education and Culture) to continue studying saxophone, composition, and improvisation in New York City in 2022.

In 2020, Patricia founded “Worldwide Sax Alliance” (www.worldwidesaxalliance.com) a non-profit organization to promote and impulse the work of professional musicians from around the world, through online activities, master classes, and interviews. In turn, she founded "MIJ – Iberoamerica Women in Jazz", a collective of Iberoamerica musicians to create joint actions as composers of jazz and creative music.

In December 2020, she received a grant from “Ibermúsicas” to participate with the “MIJ” collective at the “Woman in jazz festival” (virtual edition 2021).

In September 2021, Patricia was the first woman to win “Graffiti” award as Best Uruguayan Jazz Album with her first album Wanderlust.

From March to June 2022, she went to NYC to study saxophone and improvisation with Rich Perry. She also performed at the Washington Women in Jazz Festival (DC), at Norwalk Art Space (Connecticut), and at Bushwick Public House (NYC). As a teacher, she did an Uruguayan music Master Class for Elmont Memorial High School (Long Island) and performed with the student’s orchestra.

 

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