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Faculty Ricardo Iznaola
Biography:One of the most attractive personalities of the guitar world, Ricardo Iznaola pursues a brilliant, multi-faceted musical career. An American citizen, he was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1949, and trained in Caracas under maestros Manuel Perez Diaz and Alirio Diaz, and in Madrid under the eminent master Regino Sainz de la Maza, while pursuing studies in Theory and Composition at Madrid's Royal Conservatory. Critics, colleagues and audiences in four continents have acclaimed his path-breaking work as concert and recording artist, composer, teacher, lecturer, and writer. Mr. Iznaola has won top prizes in ten international competitions, including the Munich International Performance Competition, the Francisco Tarrega Competition, the Alirio Diaz Competition, the Stroud International Composer's Competition, the NATS Art Song Composition Competition and the Realize Music Challenge Orchestral Composition Competition, among others. Ricardo Iznaola's distinguished performing career includes innumerable concert performances at venues like Wigmore Hall (London), Merkin Hall (New York City), Hercules Saal (Munich), Grande Salle de l'Unesco (Paris), Ishibashi Memorial Hall (Tokyo), Auditorio Nacional (Madrid), Teatro Municipal (Caracas), Gran Teatro de la Maestranza (Seville), the Philharmonic Society (Bilbao), the Manuel de Falla Auditorium (Granada), as well as many music festivals in the United States, Europe, South America and Japan. He has been guest soloist with numerous orchestras under the batons of conductors Murray Seidlin, Keith Lockhart, Theo Alcantara, Donald Johanos, David Lockington, Manuel Galduf, Gerhardt Zimmerman, James Setapen, Stephen Alltop, and many others. His eclectic, vast repertoire encompasses five centuries of music for the guitar, with particular emphasis on the literature produced by great Latin American and Spanish composers. Critics have been unanimous in highlighting the importance of his re-discovery and promotion of the monumental Sonata by Antonio Jose, his interpretations of music by the Spanish composers of the so-called Generation of 1927, and his unique transcriptions of piano and orchestral masterpieces like Chopin's Waltzes, Ravel's Alborada del Gracioso, or Manuel de Falla's Ritual Fire Dance, never before attempted for solo guitar. Equally renowned as a master teacher, his students have won prizes and have placed as finalists in numerous prestigious competitions, including the Guitar Foundation of America International Competition, the Andres Segovia Competition, the WTNA-Wurlitzer Collegiate Artist Competition, the Manuel Ponce Competition, the Tokyo International Guitar Competition, etc. Celebrated for the dynamism and effectiveness of his Masterclasses and residencies, he has been invited to offer them at institutions like Yale University, Indiana University, the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music, Trinity College of Music, the Yehudi Menuhim School, the Chetham School, Mannes College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, the New England Conservatory, the North Carolina School of the Arts, and Oberlin College, among many others. Mr. Iznaola is a member of the distinguished faculty/artist roster of the prestigious Bowdoin International Music Festival, in Brunswick, Maine, since the summer of 2001. At Bowdoin, Mr. Iznaola teaches individual lessons, coaches chamber music and offers weekly Masterclasses for six weeks every summer. In addition, he has served as adjudicator in many of the world's most important guitar competitions, including the Guitar Foundation of America Competition (U.S.A.), the Francisco Tarrega Competition (Spain), the Alirio Diaz Competition (Venezuela), the Manuel Ponce Competition (Mexico) and the Seto-Ohashi Competion (Japan), among others. Mr. Iznaola has been distinguished with Honorary Membership in the European Guitar Teachers Association - U.K. Chapter, Phi Beta Kappa National Honors Society and Pi Kappa Lambda Honors Music Society. Ricardo Iznaola's didactic works have become standard texts for the training of guitar professionals, and are used as required materials in many prestigious conservatories and universities in the U.S. and Europe. Three of these books are currently available on both sides of the Atlantic: Kitharologus - The Path to Virtuosity, On Practicing, and The Physiology of Guitar Playing. Mr. Iznaola's comprehensive treatise on the art of guitar playing, Summa Kitharologica, is in progress. Mr. Iznaola has contributed many articles, essays and entries to numerous journals, encyclopedias and other publications in Europe and the Americas. Chanterelle Verlag, Mel Bay Publications and IGW distribute Mr. Iznaola's writings. Mr. Iznaola's impresive catalogue of original works includes his orchestral ('In the Eyes, a Silver Dagger'; Tiempo Muerto - Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra), chamber (Danzas de la Abuela; Triptico Criollo; Gran Guaguanco; Diferencias para el Conde Claros Criollo), vocal (Corinna's Songbook; Vocalise) and solo works (Sonata Daedalus; Blood Wedding Suite; Three Little Tales; Variations on a Theme by Lauro; Concert Etudes; Circus Vignettes; Monologo I and II, etc.) The Concert Etudes, written in a neo-Romantic, highly virtuosic idiom, have attracted considerable attention by fellow guitarists, as well as becoming audience favorites in many of Mr. Iznaola's performances. Since 1970, when his debut with the world-premiere recording of Antonio Lauro's legendary Sonata was released by the Promus label in South America, Ricardo Iznaola has produced 14 recordings for the Promus, Belter, Columbia and Luthier labels. In 1991 he founded his own recording and publishing company, IGW (Iznaola Guitar Works), through which his most recent and critically acclaimed CD's have been issued. IGW is presently working on a double CD set, Heritage - The Guitar in Venezuela, a monumental anthology of music by Venezuelan composers (Sojo, Borges, Lauro, Riera, and many more.) Ricardo Iznaola is Director of the Conservatory Program and Chair of the Guitar and Harp Department at the Lamont School of Music of the University of Denver, where he has been honored with the Distinguished Faculty Artist Award in 1990 and the 1999 University Lecturer Award. In 2004, he was awarded the John Evans Distinguished Professorship, the highest distinction bestowed by the University of Denver.
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