Ramón Pagayon Santos (b. 1941) belongs to the New and Experimental Music group of Filipino composers. He initially trained in Composition and Conducting at the University of the Philippines, and earned his Master of Music (:: Illinois under grants from the Ford Foundation and the Asian Cultural Council.  He has been elected as Member of Honor of the Asian Composers League which he led as Chairman in 1994-1997, as well as elected Vice President of the International Music Council at UNESCO from 2001 to 2005 serving as the first Filipino in the 5-man Praesidium of the highest governing body of the international music community.

As composer, his works have been conceived along concepts and aesthetic frameworks of Philippine and Southeast Asian artistic traditions, featuring elements from western and non-western sources, including various combinations of orchestral instruments, Javanese gamelan.

In the field of Musicology, he has undertaken researches not only in Philippine and Asian contemporary music, but also studied Javanese gamelan music and dance and Nan Kuan, and engaged in continuing field studies of Philippine traditional music such as the musical repertoires of  the Ibaloi, the Mansaka, Bontoc, Yakan, and Boholano. His writings have been published in major national and international journals, books, and encyclopedias, such as the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, Tunugan: Four Essays on Filipino Music (writer), Laon Laon: Perspectives on Transmission and Pedagogy of Musical Traditions in Post-colonial Southeast Asia (writer), Vocal Repertoire of the Ibaloy from Kabayan, Modernismo sa Sining Musika, The Musics of the ASEAN (editor and writer), and The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

His awards include Life Achievement Award, Phi Kappa Phi UP chapter, Visiting Artist, Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Fine Arts, (2013), Artist-in-Residence Fellowship, Civitella Ranieri Center, Umbertide, Italy, (1999), Artist-in-Residence,  Bellagio Study Center, Italy, Rockefeller Foundation, (1998)Achievement Award in the Humanities, National Research Council of the Philippines (1994), Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan, 120th Araw ng Maynila(1991), Chevalier de l’Ordre des Artes et Lettres, French Ministry of Culture (1987).

His past appointments include Composition Chair and Dean of the University of the Philippines  (UP) College of Music, Chairman of the Asian Composers League, and Secretary General of the League of Filipino Composers and the National Music Competitions for Young Artists Foundation, Artistic Director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and Head of the Executive Board of the National Music Committee, Commissioner for the Arts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and Executive Director of the UP Center of Ethnomusicology.  He is currently serving as University Professor Emeritus of the UP and President of the Musicological Society of the Philippines.  He was named National Artist for Music in 2014.