Marco Tamayo was born in La Havana, Cuba where he started playing the guitar at the age of three with his father. He studied with Antonio Alberto Rodríguez and Leo Brouwer, Harold Gramatges, and later in Europe at the University of Music in Munich (Germany, class of J. Clerch), and at the Mozarteum University of Arts in Salzburg were he studied with Eliot Fisk (guitar), Rainner Schmid (violinist), and Anthony Spiri (cembalist), Keneth Gilbert (cembalist), among others. When he made his first public appearance at the age of six national TV channels in Cuba presented him as a prodigy young talent of the guitar. At the age of ten he was already touring former DDR and Bulgaria with his brother.
During his study Tamayo won major International Guitar Competitions like the Michele Pittaluga Int. Guitar Competition, Cittá de Alessandria, in 1999 and the Andrés Segovia Int. Guitar Competition in Granda, Spain.

Some of Tamayo's prizes:
• 1999: First Prize, XXXII International Guitar Competition Michele Pittaluga/Cittá de Alessandria (Italia)
• 1999: First Prize, International Guitar Competition A. Segovia / Paco Santiago Marín (Granada, Spain)
• 1999: First Prize, International Guitar Competition Nikita Koshkin (Rust, Austria)
• 1996: First Prize, International Guitar Competition Blas Sánchez (Canary Islands, Spain)
• 1994: First Prize, International Guitar Competition in La Havanna
• 2000 and 2001: Second Prize, Francisco Tárrega International Guitar Competition in Spain
• 2000: Second Prize, International Guitar Competition "Julián Arcas" in Almería, Spain (First prize not awarded)
• 2002: Tamayo received the Mauro Giuliani Prize offered by the Giuliani Family as reward for Tamayo’s finest interpretation of works by the Italian Composer.
• 2003: Second Prize, Int. Guitar Competition “Andres Segovia” in La Herradura, Spain. (First Prize not awarded)
• 2005: First Prize, Guitar Competition “Villa de la Olleria”, Spain, in the Chamber Music modalitiy, duo with Anabel Montesinos.

He collaborated with important orchestras and chamber ensembles like the Philarmonic of Torino under the batton of Paolo Ferrara, the Chamber Orchestra of Aix en Provence (France), under the batton of Philip Bender, the Philarmonic of Tampere (Finland), the Philarmonic of La Habana under the Batton of Leo Brouwer, the TransArt Orchestra of Salzburg conducted by Kurt Redel, the Chamber Orchestra of St. Petersburg, and performing in Aix en Provence, France, and many others.
Tamayo's oficial debut took place at the Chopin-Pleyel hall in Paris, in 1999. In March 2000 he embarked on his first Italian concert tour, giving ten concerts in the region of Piedmont, in Milan, Turin, Alessandria, Piacenza, and elsewhere. After the tour, the national italian newspapers “La Stampa” called him: Il Re della Chitarra. (The King of the guitar)

His concert activities shares with teaching and leading Masterclasses in different Guitar Festivals around the Globe, Greece, Spain, Germany, México, Poland, France, Hungary, and in Universities like the Seoul University of Arts in South Korea. He lives in Salzburg since 1995 and teaches at the University of Arts and Music “Mozarteum” since the year 2000, and his class include a large number of winners of Major International Guitar Competitions. Marco Tamayo also teaches since September 2005 at the Landeskonservatorium in Klagenfurt, Austria, where he is now Professor.
In 2001, Marco Tamayo performed the "Concerto Madrigal", by Joaquin Rodrigo, together with Eliot Fisk, in Alessandria/ Italy and the Philarmonic of Turin conducted by Paolo Ferrara. At the concert, which ended with Standing Ovasion, were Alirio Díaz, Oscar Ghiglia, and many others form the international guitar scene.
On the 29th of September 2002, Tamayo performed the world premier of some unpublished works by Mauro Giuliani with a Guadagnini guitar build in 1837, first reading from the Giuliani's manuscript dated 1795, at the Final Ceremony of the Alessandria Int. Guitar Contest Michelle Pittaluga (Cittá di Alessandria), in Italy. At the same ceremony, Mr. Tamayo received the Mauro Giuliani Prize for the fine interpretation of the composer's music.
Tamayo's recordings includes one Album for the Voice of Lyrics label in France, and three albums for the Naxos Classical Label. The Naxos release of “Cuban Music” by Marco Tamayo came out in February 2004, and the collection of Giuliani’s works is since 2005 on the market. The entire Niccolo Paganini album including three Caprici original for violin solo, the Grand Sonata in A-Major, and some original works for guitar is since 30th January 2006 in the music shops.
On december 14th 2006 Marco Tamayo received the “Cittadinanza Onoraria”, Honourable Citizen of the city of Alessandria , in Piedmont , Italy , and is the second guitarist, after Maestro Alirio Díaz, who received this honour.