Born in Ottawa, Canada, bassoonist Dantes Rameau is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Atlanta Music Project. Founded in 2010, the Atlanta Music Project provides intensive, tuition-free music education to underserved youth right in their neighborhood.

As Executive Director of the Atlanta Music Project, Dantes has secured over three million dollars for the organization and has grown programming to 250 students, 40 teaching artists and five program sites. The Atlanta Music Project’s youth orchestras and choirs perform over 25 concerts each year at venues such as the Woodruff Arts Center, Spivey Hall and Atlanta City Hall. Dantes has development key partnerships with many local entities including the City of Atlanta Department of Parks and Recreation, The Kindezi Schools, Clayton State University and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Dantes holds a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance from McGill University and a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from the Yale University School of Music. He also completed a Performance Certificate at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2010 he graduated from the Sistema Fellows Program at the New England Conservatory, where he studied non-profit management and music education. He is a graduate of the 2012 class of LEAD Atlanta, a leadership development program for Atlanta’s outstanding young professionals, and the 2015 class of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Leadership Institute.

Dantes has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Woodruff Arts Center. He has performed with the Aspen Chamber Symphony, Charleston Symphony and Wallingford Symphony. A passionate teacher, his teaching credits include El Sistema in Venezuela, the Yale School of Music’s Music in Schools program, and the Atlanta Music Project. In addition Dantes has lectured at Emory University, the New England Conservatory, Mercer University and the University of Manitoba.

A unique and compelling voice for social change through the arts, in 2010 Dantes was one of 25 groundbreaking creatives to be awarded $25,000 from AOL Artists’ 25For25 grant program. He was selected to Ebony Magazine’s 2013 Power 100, a list of the nation’s most influential African-Americans. He is also the recipient of the McGill University Alumni Association’s 2014 James G. Wright award, presented to young alumni who have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to service and made a difference in the community.

Dantes has spoken at conferences and symposiums, including TEDxPeachtree, Digital Atlanta, Arts Leaders of Metro Atlanta and the Yale School of Music Symposium on Music Education. He speaks about topics ranging from music education and non-profit management, to fundraising and community development through the arts.

Dantes is also Founder of Empowered Artists Consulting, a Canada-based consulting firm that provides artists and arts organizations with strategies for social good. His clients have included the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Share the Warmth, a Montreal-based youth and community center.

Learn more at http://www.atlantamusicproject.org/team/dantes-ram...