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Gonzalo Valencia-Peña

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Gonzalo Valencia-Peña

Biography

Gonzalo is a composer, lyricist, arranger, orchestrator, music director, accompanist, actor, and former physics teacher. He was born in Chile and then was brought to the States at the age of 7. He spent over 15 years as an undocumented immigrant and therefore believes deeply in pushing for comprehensive immigration reform that is empathetic and humane. Before starting his full-time music journey, he spent over a decade teaching physics at an inner-city public school. Gonzalo is proud to have been given the opportunity to help thousands of young kids in high school journey. The only reason he left teaching was due to experiencing health issues post-COVID which made him reprioritize how he wishes to spend the rest of his life.
As a composer, Gonzalo has two decades of experience writing for pop/rock artists, musicals, and cabarets. His work has been performed at 54 BELOW,  THE DUPLEX, BERGEN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, DON’T TELL MAMA NYC, NJIT, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY and MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY. Currently, he is working on a few different projects, one of which is GOBLINS & GATES, a new D&D-inspired musical you can listen to on all streaming platforms. The show was originally developed at MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY in 2018. Since then the show has been a 2023 NMTC finalist at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and the full concept album will be released by the end of 2024.
This past summer Gonzalo had the privilege of working with Papermill Playhouse for the second year in a row as an MD/arranger/orchestrator/copyist for their New Voices Concerts. Currently, you can find him downtown as the MD/arranger/orchestrator for the off-Broadway North American premiere of the Spanish hit musical, “La Llamada”, written by Javier Ambrossi y Javier Calvo. Over the years he has served as an MD/conductor/pianist/keyboard programmer/contractor (aka “music department”) for 100’s of musicals all around the NJ/NY area. Some of his personal favorites include PARADE, SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM, CABARET, RENT, IN THE HEIGHTS, VIOLET, DREAMGIRLS, GYPSY, and many more! Oh and he occasionally acts when given the chance. Some of his favorite moments involved leading roles in TICK, TICK… BOOM! (Jon), IN THE HEIGHTS (Usnavi), SWEENEY TODD (Sweeney), and AVENUE Q (Nicky).

Currently, Gonzalo lives in NJ just a few miles outside NYC. He is happily married to his incredible partner Danielle, loves his cat Mila, hiking, and playing games (board games, video games, role playing games, etc.). Let’s make music together!

Professional Experience

  • Off Broadway
  • Regional
  • Concerts/Cabaret
  • Education

Regions

  • NYC/Tri-State Area

Interested in touring?

  • No

Hireable as

  • Theatrical Composer (Music and Lyrics)
  • Music Director/Conductor (Pianist)
  • Music Director/Conductor (Not Pianist)
  • Music Assistant
  • Singer/Songwriter
  • Orchestrator
  • Vocal Arranger
  • Incidental Music Composer/Arranger
  • Music Copyist
  • Music Transcriber
  • Pit Musician (Keyboards)
  • Pit Musician (Other)
  • Music Contractor/Coordinator
  • Keyboard Programmer
  • Sound Designer/Composer
  • Audition Pianist
  • Actor-Musician

My Primary Instrument

  • Piano

My Instruments

  • Guitar - acoustic
  • Guitar - electric
  • Piano
  • Synth - keyboards
  • Voice
  • Other
  • Harmonica

Software

  • Finale
  • GarageBand
  • Logic
  • MainStage
  • Sibelius

Affiliations

  • THE DRAMATISTS GUILD

Pronouns

  • He/Him