Lee Santana

Lee Santana comes from a family of musicians in Florida, USA. After a circuitous route, he received diplomas with ‘summa cum laude’ distinctions from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts in performance practice for early music and theory of music. His lute teachers included Pat O’Brien and Steven Stubbs. Since 1984 he has worked as a freelance lutenist and composer in Europe. He has performed in all the well-known European festivals and concert venues for early music, and has played with many leading European ensembles including Musica Fiata (Cologne), the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Hesperion XX (Spain) and Les Arts Florissants (France). His work as soloist, continuo player and composer can be heard on over 60 CDs, many of which have won prizes and awards including the German Record Critics’ Award and the ECHO Klassik. The main focus of his work is performing with the gamba player Hille Perl. Other major interests are the ensembles Sirius Viols and The Age Of Passions, as well as his work as a soloist.