Gonzalo Varela
Montevideo
I am a Uruguayan composer, sound designer, and guitarist. My passion for artistic collaboration and my interest in a diverse array of musical styles have led me to work on numerous video games released on all major platforms, films, audiovisual series, theatre plays and other media.
I have received awards from Uruguay’s Ministry of Education and Culture (including three National Music Awards), the Kino London Short Film Festival, the Uruguayan Choral Association and Columbia College Chicago, among others. Additionally, my work has received dozens of nominations, special mentions and recognition from the likes of UK Music Video Awards, Video Prisma Awards, Premios Quirino, Premios Florencio, and Premios Graffiti. My compositions have been performed in concerts, festivals and workshops in at least ten countries, and my publications include a wide range of music albums, books, articles and software applications. As a performer I have given over three hundred concerts in four countries.
I am pursuing a PhD in Arts with a specialization in Audiovisual and Multimedia Arts, at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina) (thesis direction: Fernando Miranda and Daniel Belinche). I hold a Master of Fine Arts degree, specialization: Music Composition for the Screen, from Columbia College Chicago (United States), supported by a Fulbright-ANII scholarship (primary instructor: Kubilay Uner). I also hold two Bachelor’s degrees from the Universidad de la República (Uruguay): one in Music, specialization: Composition (primary instructor: Osvaldo Budón), and another in Musical Performance, specialization: Guitar (primary instructors: Ramiro Agriel and Gonzalo Victoria). In addition, I have studied composition with Coriún Aharonián, Joel Goodman, Ronit Kirchman and Chance Thomas, as well as music genres like Flamenco, Tango, Jazz, Candombe and Javanese Gamelan with various teachers.
I am an Academic Assistant to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Universidad de la República, and teach at the Universidad de la República and the Universidad Tecnológica (Uruguay). Besides, I have held teaching positions at two other universities: Columbia College Chicago and the Universidad Católica del Uruguay, and have given short courses, workshops and lectures at additional universities from Argentina and the United States. I have also worked for composers such as Joel Corelitz, Roque Baños, Tom Howe, Ilya Levinson and Sebastian Huydts, either in the context of my university positions or independently.
Last update: 19 April 2026