Alvaro Collao León (Master of Arts, Performance and Education) is an educator, saxophonist, composer and arranger based in Vienna (AT). He is Saxophone teacher at the Joseph Haydn Institut für Kammermusik und Neue Musik at the Vienna University for Music and Performing Arts. Classical Saxophone and improvisation teacher at the AMP Wien Conservatory. Artistic director of the Tarapacá international music festival and Chile SaxFest. His Saxophone and Artistic studies have taken place in Santiago de Chile under the guidance of Miguel Villafruela in the University of Chile, in France at the Conservatoire of Bordeaux with Marie-Bernardette Charrier and in Austria at the Music of Arts Privat University of the city of Vienna with Lars Mlekusch, Andrew Middleton and Wolfgang Liebhart. He is a prize-winner of several international music competitions, such as the first Pan American Competition of Classic Saxophone Mexico D.F, the Vienna Fidelio Competition 2012 and 2014 and in the Osaka international competition 2015, the special prices Hyogo Governor awards, Vienna Performing award and “Also award” from Magazin The Sax, 2017 Michigan M-Prize competition and Startstipendium für musik und darstellende kunst 2017.
He is a fantastic performer of contemporary music repertoire and has already collaborated with many great composers like; Friedrich Cerha, Georg Friedrich Haas, Hannes Kerschbaumer, Peter Eötvös, Olga Neuwirth, Beat Furrer, Hannes Kerschbaumer, Francois Sarhan, Gerhard E. Winkler, Simon Pironkoff, Katharina Klement, Georges Aperghis, Alberto Posadas, Miguel Farias, Chaya Czernowin, Peter Erskine, Mauro Hertig, Alexander Stankovski, Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, Leo Brouwer, Daniel Osorio, Pierluigi Billone, among others.
He is in cooperation with the ÖENM Österreich Ensemble für Neue Musik, Orchester Volkoper Wien, PHACE Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Kärntner Sinfonieorchester, the Vienna Saxophonic Orchestra, Avido duo, Reider-Collao and FIVE SAX. Alvaro is Selmer Paris and D’Addario artist.