Isaias Elpes

Applied Instructor; Adjunct Professor

Phone: (213) 304-0356

Email: [email protected]

Isaias Elpes is an award-winning composer and musician from Brazil currently residing in Los Angeles. Over the years, Elpes has established his name as a versatile songwriter and performer. He was catapulted by winning the grand prize on bass in Lee Ritenour’s international Six String Theory Contest in 2016 with one of his original compositions.
Since then, Elpes’s original music has been featured on international albums and soundtracks including his recent accomplishment for arranging the Grammy-winning song “Quando Hay Amor” and recording bass guitar on Gloria Estefan’s 2021 album, BRAZIL305. Most recently, he can be seen as Pia Toscano’s Music Director, arranging and orchestrating her solo tours.
As a composer and producer, he scored the Brazilian feature film “Maloucos Contra o Ladrão de Sonhos,” set to release Fall 2024. His original works have also been featured in the Globoplay Series Todas as Flores, Brazilian book trailer for Os Continentes de Dentro, and short film MANIFESTO. They have secured placements in American episodes of CBS Primetime’s Zoo and USA’s Rush.
Widely celebrated as a touring and session bassist, Elpes has performed with Sergio Mendes, Pia Toscano, Gloria Estefan, Tiago Iorc, Jorge Drexler, Duda Beat, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, Brian McKnight, Marcos Valle, and more.
In Elpes’s personal projects, he calls on his classically trained upbringing with pieces featuring the classical guitar. Boasting 10+ published releases since 2020, Elpes has continued to introduce his unique talent which has earned him reference to a modern-day Heitor Villa-Lobos. Elpes hones his craft with a cinematic writing style blending his Brazilian upbringing to result in a genre-bending collection of songs that flows through jazz, classical, world and instrumental music. His projects have been included on Spotify editorial playlists and organically grown a fan base across the globe.

Education

• MA, Contemporary Performance, Shepherd University
• Lato Sensu, Music Education, Faculdade Paulista de Artes
• Conservatory Certificate, Music, Sauza Lima
• BS, Accounting Sciences, Universidade Famina

Academic Area

• School of the Arts

Expertise

• Bass guitar (electric and upright)
• Composition
• Arranging
• Music performance

Courses Taught

• Commercial Styles