MANUEL BARRUECO

Cuban born guitarist Manuel Barrueco is recognized as one of the most important guitarists of our time. His unique artistry has been continually described as that of a superb instrumentalist and a superior and elegant musician, possessing a seductive sound and uncommon lyrical gifts.

He dedicated his career to bringing the guitar to the main musical centers of the world. Some of these include the Royal Albert Hall in London, Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Philharmonie in Berlin, Teatro Real in Madrid, and Palau de la Musica in Barcelona. In Asia he has completed close to a dozen tours of Japan and made repeated appearances in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Barrueco’s tours of Latin America have included performances in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico. He has also performed as a guest soloist with other international orchestras such as the Russian State Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Auckland Symphony in New Zealand, and the radio symphonies of Munich and Frankfurt.

During three decades of concertizing, he has performed across the United Sates from the New World Symphony in Miami to the Seattle Symphony, and from the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to New York’s Lincoln Center. He has appeared with such prestigious orchestras as the Philadelphia Orchestra and with the Boston Symphony under the direction of Seiji Ozawa, in the American Premiere of Toru’s Takemitsu’s To the Edge of Dream. In addition, he appears regularly with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and with San Francisco Performances.

Barrueco has made over a dozen recordings for the EMI label. His recording of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with conductor and tenor Plácido Domingo and the Philharmonia Orchestra was cited as the best recording of that piece in Classic CD Magazine, while ¡Cuba! was called "an extraordinary musical achievement" by the San Francisco Chronicle. For the album Nylon & Steel, Barrueco has collaborated with guitar greats such as Al Di Meola, Steve Morse (Deep Purple), and Andy Summers (The Police), demonstrating his outstanding versatility and imaginative programming.

His latest release, Concierto Barroco, with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia and conductor Víctor Pablo Pérez, received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Classical Recording. This CD contains the world premiere recordings of new works for guitar and orchestra by Roberto Sierra and Arvo Pärt, as well as two guitar concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Other recordings include many of the works from the Spanish and Latin American repertoire, as well as Bach and Mozart, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea.

He has also collaborated with soprano Barbara Hendricks and flutist Emmanuel Pahud in Cantos y Danzas, with The King’s Singers on a Strauss album, and with the London Symphony on Manuel Barrueco plays Lennon & McCartney.

Barrueco's committed himself to contemporary music and to the exapansion of the guitar repertoire which has led him to collaborations with many distinguished composers such as Steven Stucky, Michael Daugherty, Roberto Sierra, Arvo Pärt and Toru Takemitsu, whose last orchestral work Spectral Canticle was a double concerto written specifically for Manuel Barrueco and violinist Frank Peter Zimmerman.

Manuel Barrueco has appeared frequently on American television programs including "CBS Sunday Morning", A&E's "Breakfast with the Arts", and "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on PBS. His work in music also inspired Michael Lawrence’s biographical documentary: “Manuel Barrueco: A Gift and a Life” which has been aired by PBS stations around the United States including WNET-TV in New York. He was also featured in a Lexus car commercial. Barrueco’s performances have been broadcast by television stations around the world such as NHK in Japan, Bayerische Rundfunk in Germany, and RTVE in Spain.

This coming season includes the world premiere of Roberto Sierra’s Danzas Concertantes with the Orchestra of Castilla and Leon in Spain, and a new quintet by Gabriela Lena Frank, which Barrueco will tour with the Cuarteto Latinoamericano. Other scheduled performances include appearances with the National Orchestra of Spain, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, and the Utah Symphony Orchestra, with recitals in Liechtenstein, Iceland, San Francisco and Seattle to name a few, and he will appear in the guitar festivals of Koblenz, Germany and Cordoba, Spain.

His latest releases include two recordings featuring the music of Astor Piazzolla: Solo Piazzolla and Tango Sensations, the latter in collaboration with the Cuarteto Latinoamericano. These recordings will be released as part of the exclusive Manuel Barrueco Collection on the Tonar label, a company formed specifically to release his recordings.