Aurelio Tello is a Peruvian composer, conductor, and musicologist. Since 1982, he has lived in Mexico. Tello has been awarded several prizes and distinctions, not only as a composer but also as a researcher. His main research subject is Latin American colonial music, particularly from Mexico and Peru; it also includes twentieth-century music. He has published analyses, critiques, and historical accounts of composition and composers from Mexico and Peru.

Aurelio Tello was born in Cerro de Pasco, in the central highlands. He studied choral conducting and music education at the National Conservatoire of Peru. He also studied composition with Enrique Iturriaga (1918--), Edgar Valcárcel (1932–2010), and Celso Garrido-Lecca (1926--). Tello began his career in 1973 as a choral conductor, conducting several ensembles in Peru and Mexico. In 1980, he recorded twentieth-century Peruvian choral and vocal compositions with the National Conservatoire’s Choir. Since 1986 he has been guest conductor of the Mexican Coro de Madrigalistas de Bellas Artes. In 1989, he founded the Capilla Virreinal de la Nueva España, a vocal and instrumental ensemble devoted to Latin American colonial music, which has participated in several festivals and concerts and has made some recordings.