José Guillermo Puello is a Dominican composer studying towards a PhD in Composition at the University of Manchester under the supervision of Dr. Camden Reeves. His music is influenced by the strong tradition of Latin-American dance rhythms from his home country and by Western contemporary music. Since his undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham where he specialised in composition, he is working on merging these two contrasting traditions to create an exciting new sound-world.

As well as enjoying composing, Puello plays Latin-Jazz flute and is keen on conducting and theatre. During his time in Birmingham he formed a Latin-jazz sextet called Locura Latina and performed in festivals as well as functions. He has also conducted the University’s Brass and Wind bands, the Saxophone Ensemble and the New Music Ensemble. In his third year he was the co-producer for the Summer Festival Opera (Die Fledermaus).

Puello also has a passion for education work as he thinks the Arts, particularly music, can influence and teach a variety of skills to young kids and prepare them for their future lives as part of the society. He has been part of the National Youth Orchestra in Dominican Republic and more recently has taken a more active role in the organisation. He has coordinated a creativity workshop to introduce children and adults to contemporary music composition and been a guest lecturer at a composition class in the ‘Academia Dominicana de Música.’ During his first year in Manchester Puello was the assistant composer for the ‘Songbook of the Earth’ project organised by Manchester Camerata and the Bridgewater Hall.