Felix Salazar is currenty an active member and resident composer of the Los Angeles Electric 8, an electric guitar chamber octet in which eight classically-trained guitarists direct their training and musical curiosity towards the electric guitar, an instrument usually reserved for rock. They reclaim classical music for the electric guitar, revealing the instrument’s enormous potential in the world of art music.
 

Felix is a composer whose music ranges from works for solo guitar to large ensemble. In every manifestation, his art is empathic and emotionally driven. Life experience, be it a broken heart or the civil war in El Salvador, is the inspiration for his compositions. Therefore, Felix maintains the freedom to draw upon whichever compositional philosophy best expresses his connection to the subject matter. His process is open and intuitive.

Renowned ensembles such as the California EAR Unit, The Florida Classical Orchestra, the Cal Arts New Century Players, and the UCLA Guitar Ensemble have performed Felix's work. In 2006, Felix received his Masters Degree in Composition at the California Institute of the Arts where he studied under Morton Subotnick, Vinny Golia and Stephen Lucky Mosko.
 

Other teachers included James Tenney, Christian Wolff, Michael Pisaro and Mark Trayle. In 2003, Felix was awarded his Bachelor of Arts in Commercial Music from the California State Polytechnic University Pomona where he studied with Peter Yates, David Kopplin and Ronald Muldrow. During his career, Felix has composed dozens of chamber works. Which have included music for strings (solo and ensemble), short films, voice, piano and guitar trio, chamber orchestra, various electro-acoustic ensembles, jazz quartets and big band.


Felix collaborated with world-renowned DJ, Paul Oakenfold, in an unprecedented, live performance of a DJ and Orchestra. Felix composed, arranged and conducted original orchestral music which he created a "dynamic" conductor score for. The dynamic score would be the only way of allowing mixing of tracks by Oakenfold to remain flexible and organic. The score would also allow Oakenfold and Felix to interact and communicate with the audience at their discretion and without restrictions. The world premiere of this concept and music, which was an event sponsored by Bacardi B-Live, took place March 17, 2007 at Bayfront Park Miami, Florida and was a huge success.

Felix was born in Los Angeles on February 28, 1978 and raised there by immigrant parents of Mexican and Salvadorean descent. At the age of 21, while studying classical guitar, he wrote his first piece entitled Ghost vs. Frog for solo guitar. With the birth of that composition, Felix realized that he would be writing music for the rest of his life. Aside from composing, Felix teaches music and classical guitar throughout Los Angeles. Additionally, he can be spotted in collaboration with local artists, both as a composer and a performer. He also enjoys being an amateur photographer, drawing abstractions and maintaining microcosms of various tropical plant and aquatic life.

"Felix is a great composer and nobody knows why!" Dr. Peter Yates, UCLA