Barcelona based tenor saxophonist Santi de la Rubia was born in Valencia in 1984. At a young age he became interested in jazz by listening to his father’s cassettes of Johnny Hodges. At the age of eight he began playing the saxophone. After finishing the Professional Degree of classical saxophone in 2002 with honors, he moved to Barcelona to study at the ESMUC (Escuela Superior de Música de Catalunya). There he took lessons with teachers such as Xavier Figuerola, Eladio Reinón and Ignacio Gascón. In 2006 he graduated with distinction.

He continued his studies attending different seminars and classes with many jazz notables including Perico Sambeat, Javier Vercher, Dick Oatts, Dave Liebman, Bob Mintzer, Jerry Bergonzi, Bill McHenry, Chris Cheek, Mark Turner, Walter Smith III and Seamus Blake.

With his first album "Afinke," in which he plays as featured sideman of Jordi Berni trío, he won the International Jazz Contest of Granada and was selected for the Catalan Jazz Tour 2008. In that tour he shared the stage in Paris and London with Perico Sambeat trio. Later that same year he was finalist at the Getxo International Jazz Contest with Josep Tutusaus Sextet. In 2014 he won the second prize with CJ Quintet at the I International Jazz Contest of Almería. In 2017 he received the award "La ruta del Jazz", awarded by the digital culture Núvol, as the best jazz musician thanks to the release of his first album as leader "Broken Line."

In 2018 he was selected as a member of the Focusyear Band 19, a program promoted by the Musik Akademie Basel and Inspired by the World Music Institute at Berklee and the Monk Institute in Los Angeles. The program consists of a internationally assembled ensemble who are coached in a regular cycle by acknowledged masters of the international Jazz scene including Guillermo Klein, Dave Liebman, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Jorge Rossy, Dominique Girod, Ambrose Akinmusire, Jim Black, Billy Childs, Luciana Souza, Marilyn Mazur, Seamus Blake, Nils Wogram, John Hollenbeck, Norma Winstone, Julian Lage and Django Bates. In 2019 the Focusyear Band 19 won the first prize at the Keep an Eye International Jazz Competition organized by the Conservatory of Amsterdam.

Santi has played with Tom Harrell, Jorge Rossy, Doug Weiss, Vinícius Gomes, Joan Monné, Martín Leiton, Juan Galiardo, Lluís Vidal, Ernesto Aurignac, Jaume Llombart, Perico Sambeat, Roger Mas, Jordi Berni, Albert Vila, Joan Díaz and Giulia Valle among many others.

He currently teaches at the Taller de Musics in Barcelona.

http://santidelarubia.weebly.com/bio