Distinguished composer, conductor, and teacher Alberto Grau (b. 1937) has earned a place of  honor among the best contemporary  Venezuelan musicians. He is known as a choral conductor and  as one of the leading figures in choral composition in Latin America and the world. His works have been published by Earthsongs (USA), N.J.Kjos (USA),A Coeur Joie (France), Oxford University Press (England), GGM editors (Venezuela) and receives permanently commissions from choirs all over the world. His books  ‘The making of a conductor’ and ‘The making of the composer’ are references for young conductors and musicians.

He is the honorary and founder director of Schola Cantorum de Venezuela , the Orfeón Universitario Simón Bolívar and the Ave Fenix Choir and of  the Project of Social Action for Music of CAF. He was a member of the Board of ‘El Sistema’ and Vice-President of IFCM. He was also professor of Choral Conducting in  the University Simón Bolívar in Caracas and Director of the Choral Symphonic productions of  ‘El Sistema’. Currently he is composer in residency of the Fundacion Schola Cantorum de Venezuela and of Pro-Coro Canadá (2020-2022). He has been awarded the National Prize of Composition ‘José Angel Montero’ in Venezuela on 3 occasions, the prize of the International Day of Choral Singing  (Barcelona, Spain 1979), the first prize of  Composición y Expresión Coral (Gran Canarias, Spain 1998) and the Life Achievement Award of IFCM (2015).

In 1967 he founded the Schola Cantorum de Caracas and won First Prizes in the 1974 Guido D’Arezzo International Competition in Italy. He has attended important international congresses and festivals with his choirs  and also as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and professor of choral music. More than thirty recordings provide evidence of his fine musicianship and extensive knowledge of  the choral repertoire.