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Anthony Ocaña

Composer/guitarist with a personal voice where layers of different genres – classical, contemporary, minimal, pop, progressive rock, Caribbean, Latin American and jazz - are interwoven in a unique, unclassifiable style.

He is born in the Dominican Republic on March 7th, 1980, is educated in the island, the USA and Spain, then becomes a Spanish citizen in 2007.

His musical path begins at age 5 when he asks his father for piano lessons; once he starts learning music, he knows he would dedicate his entire life to it. At age 14 he begins studying classical guitar and enrols in the National Conservatory of Music in Dominican Republic studying with guitarist Ruben Gonzalez. At 18 he receives a scholarship to study composition and guitar at Manhattanville College in New York, where he graduates with honours. At age 19 he invited to be the opening act of jazz pianist and multi-grammy winner Gonzalo Rubalcaba. At this concert is where Ocaña decides to focus his career on performing his original compositions. Few years later he is again invited to be the opening act of Rubalcaba and Egberto Gismonti, one of his biggest musical influences. While living in New York, he works as a composer for the orchestra of Elliot Magaziner (former director of Frank Sinatra's orchestra) and studies with great musicians, such as Benjamin Verdery, Ingram Marshall and Mary Ann Joyce-Walter.

In 2002, Ocaña decides to move to Madrid, where he has been living ever since. Yet, years later his music can be enjoyed on a regular basis in the Spanish National Radio stations and other venues.

Ocaña has published six albums: A Paso de Cebra with Sebastian Lerner (2001), Anthony Ocaña (2006), Solo (2008), Wet Fields (2010), Placeres (2012) and "In Trance (la luna o los ritos del amor)" (2015) having received remarkable reviews for each one of them.

Awards

100 Latinos Madrid (2010)
CONDEX and President of the Dominican Republic (2010)
Francisco Tarrega Composers Award (2004)
Casa de Teatro Composers Award (2004)
Senior Josephine Morgan Award (2001)

Gear

6 string guitar and 10 string guitar, both by luthier Melchor Rodriguez. Roland RC300, Timeline delay

Anthony Ocaña & Nelson Ricart-Guerrero: In Trance

Read "In Trance" reviewed by Budd Kopman

by Budd Kopman
August 14, 2015

In order to fully appreciate Anthony Ocaña's intriguingly beautiful In Trance, which consists of six multi-level instrumental tracks (some with choral background) followed by a twenty-minute recitation of the poem “La luna o los ritos del amor," written by Nelson Ricart-Guerrero, it is necessary to understand the inspiration for both. The music is inspired by the poem, and the poem's inspiration is described by its author: “The poem “La luna o los ritos del amor / ...

Album Review

Anthony Ocaña & Nelson Ricart-Guerrero: In Trance (La Luna o los Ritos del Amor)

Read "In Trance (La Luna o los Ritos del Amor)" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
June 13, 2015

Composer and multi-instrumentalist, Anthony Ocaña has released a most unusual album with his In Trance. Ocaña has been actively pursuing a life in music since the age of five. The Dominican Republic native--now a resident of Madrid, Spain--switched from piano to guitar at an early age and was opening for pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba at the age of nineteen and later opening for multi-instrumentalist Egberto Gismonti. Though largely unknown in the US, this is Ocaña's sixth recording as a leader and ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Anthony Ocaña

Source: Michael Ricci
March 7, 2014

All About Jazz is celebrating Anthony Ocaña's birthday today!

Dominican/Spanish composer and guitarist. Today he is one of the major exponents of contemporary guitar and also an innovator with the instrument. He performs concerts for 6 & 10 string guitars, guitars processed through delays and loops. From an early age, he began studying music in his native Dominican Republic, and at age 18 he received a scholarship to study composition and guitar at Manhattanville College in New York... Read more. ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Anthony Ocaña

Source:
March 7, 2012

All About Jazz is celebrating Anthony Ocaña's birthday today!

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Anthony Ocaña

Source:
March 7, 2011

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Anthony Ocaña

Source: Michael Ricci
March 7, 2010

All About Jazz is celebrating Anthony Ocaña's birthday today!

JAZZ MUSICIAN OF THE DAY Anthony Ocaña

Composer and guitarist, born in Dominican Republic (“D.R.”) on March 7, 1980. Ocaña became a Spanish citizen in 2007. From an early age, he discovered his love for music. At the age of 5 he started taking piano and violin lessons... more

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Anthony Ocaña

Source: Michael Ricci
March 7, 2009

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Recording

Anthony Ocana's "Solo" Now Available

Source: All About Jazz
December 16, 2008

Third record release of composer and guitarist, Anthony Ocaña. This solo work includes nine pieces, seven of which are original compositions and two are Ocaña’s adaptations from songs by The Beatles. The bonus track, also authored by Ocaña, is the only piece with percussionist and special guest, Pablo Peña, also known as Pablito Drum.

This is a production where the six string instrument becomes orchestra, and this whole of instruments, guitar. Each composition has a life and personality of its ...
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"Anthony Ocaña...an intuitive, sensitive musician who is creating his own unique musical space". (Kirk Albrecht, Minor 7th Guitar Review 2010)

"Anthony has an immense pleasure to perform the music he composes. This is good enough to fulfill the soul of the listener. Congratulations” (Egberto Gismonti 2006)

“Anthony Ocaña…free of prejudice… makes all influences, from top to bottom, his own. (Laura Barrachina “El Ojo Crítico” Spanish National Radio 2015)

“In Trance, an album in which the fusion of influences and styles make you walk through a path where echoes of Animal Collective, Philip Glass, Sufjan Stevens or the folk music of Dominican Republic are present” (Luis J. Menendez “Mondosonoro” 2015)

"Anthony Ocaña...an intuitive, sensitive musician who is creating his own unique musical space". (Kirk Albrecht, Minor 7th Guitar Review 2010)

"Anthony has an immense pleasure to perform the music he composes. This is good enough to fulfill the soul of the listener. Congratulations” (Egberto Gismonti 2006)

“Anthony Ocaña…free of prejudice… makes all influences, from top to bottom, his own. (Laura Barrachina “El Ojo Crítico” Spanish National Radio 2015)

"Like the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds” (In Trance) is made to be heard with headphones, in the dark, a combination of organic echoes, voices that dance like strokes of Matisse, Afro-Taino rhythms, guitars that transcend temporary lines and which depart from barroque foundations, a construction of similar structure to those produced by Brian Eno or Philip Glass with which it seems possible to turn our dreams into reality." (Diego Cepeda "La Casetera" 2014)

“His aestheticism integrates tradition with modernity - and when it is time to label his genre, it defies any type of prejudice… The work of Anthony Ocaña opens up a new space for the guitar as a symbol of multicultural expression.” (Mikaela Vergara, Radio Clásica / Spanish National Radio 2012)

I'm marveled by the palette of colours and textures of this instrumental piece titled Ritos… This Anthony Ocaña certainly transmits luminosity and color” (Charlie Faber “Radio 3” Spanish National Radio 2015)

“This young artist is not a musical promise, but an authentic, beautiful and passionate reality” (Humberto Quagliata 2010)

"Anthony Ocana has great potential, a very promising future, and who already at this present time has achieved levels of interest." (Tomás Marco 2010)

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