Ricardo Iznaola

Chair of the Guitar and Harp Department

Professor, MM, Guitar

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Biography

One of the most attractive personalities of the guitar world, Ricardo Iznaola pursues a brilliant, multifaceted, musical career. Mr. Iznaola, an American citizen, was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1949. His activities as a performer, composer, pedagogue, lecturer, and writer have been distinguished by international critical acclaim and the admiration of colleagues and audiences alike. He has been called "one of the most seminal players, teachers and thinkers of the guitar scene today" (Soundboard Magazine) and an "expressive, full of character, persuasive and assured musician with flair as well as technique" (Los Angeles Times).

As performer and composer, Iznaola has been awarded top prizes in eight international competitions, including the Munich International Competition, the Francisco Tárrega Award in Spain -which he won twice-, and the Stroud International Composers' Competition in England.

Simultaneously to guitar studies under the eminent Spanish master Regino Sainz de la Maza, Mr. Iznaola pursued studies in composition at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid, Spain. Mr. Iznaola's works include the guitar concerto Tiempo Muerto, the instrumental suite Musique de Salon, the mini-cantata for narrator and guitar Frank's Berries, and numerous solo guitar works, among which, the set of Ten Concert Etudes, have attracted considerable attention by fellow guitarists.

His daring approach to the art of guitar transcription has produced breath-taking results, as in his renditions of Ravel's Alborada del Gracioso and De Falla's Ritual Fire Dance, never before attempted for solo guitar.

Mr. Iznaola's distinguished performing career include innumerable concert performances at venues like the Granada and Santander Music Festivals, the Madrid Autumn Festival, the National Auditorium in Madrid, the Gran Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Grande Salle de L'Unesco in Paris, the Hercule Saal in Munich, the Ishibashi Memorial Hall in Tokyo, the Andrés Segovia Spring Festival with the Radio Television Orchestra in Madrid and Seville, the Merkin Concert Hall in New York, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in Denver, among others.

His 13 recordings, issued by the Promus, Belter, Columbia and IGW labels, include the world-premieres of such major works as Antonio Lauro's legendary Sonata, and Antonio José's 1933 Sonata, a monumental work which Iznala rediscovered for the guitar repertoire. His latest CD "1927 - Spanish Guitar Music from the time of Garcia Lorca" honors the centenary of the great Spanish poet with works by composers of his generation.

Mr. Iznaola's publications "Kitharologus - The Path to Virtuosity" (now in its fifth edition), and "On Practicing" (in its forth edition), published by Mel Bay (USA), are rapidly being adopted as standard texts by the professional guitar community. "The Physiology of Guitar Playing" book was published by the University of Reading, England. His latest publication "The Concert Etudes" (score & CD) was recently published also by Mel Bay.

Equally renowned as a teacher (the British journal Classical Guitar calls his teaching "bold, original and unconventional"), Ricardo Iznaola has offered Masterclasses, lectures and seminars at institutions like Yale University, the Royal Academy of Music, Trinity College and Guildhall School of Music in London, Mannes College and the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, the San Francisco Conservatory, the Cleveland Institute of Music, as well as many Summer workshops on both sides of the Atlantic, and Japan.

Iznaola is Chairman of the Guitar and Harp Department and Director of the Conservatory Program at the University of

Denver 's Lamont School of Music, where he founded and was the director of the International Guitar Week Festival for ten years. In honor of his merits as scholar, creative and performing artist, the University of Denver has distinguished him with the Distinguished Faculty Artist Award, in 1990, and with the 1998-1999 University Lecturer Award. In 2004, Iznaola was awarded the John Evans Professor, the highest distinction bestowed by the University of Denver.

Mr. Iznaola is on the faculty at the pretigious Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in Brunswick, Maine.