Dr. Jose Lezcano

Described by Fanfare Magazine as “an excellent guitarist as well as an imaginative composer,” José Manuel Lezcano is Professor Emeritus of Music at Keene State College (New Hampshire) where he directs the Guitar Orchestra and Latin-American Ensemble, and teaches guitar and courses in Latin American and Spanish music. He is a twice Grammy-nominated guitarist and composer who has delighted audiences on four continents. His programs featuring traditional and Latin American repertoire, and his own original compositions have taken him as recitalist, collaborative musician, and concerto soloist from Carnegie Recital Hall and the North-South Consonance Series in New York City to major venues and festivals in Cuba, Spain, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, China, Crete, Trinidad & Tobago, the Czech Republic and Germany. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1960, he earned degrees from Peabody Conservatory (BM), University of South Carolina (MM), and Florida State University (Ph.D., Music Theory). José has earned numerous awards, including first prize in the MTNA National Guitar Competition, the NH State Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship, NHMTA Composer of the Year (2002 & 07), KSC Distinguished Research Award, and a Fulbright Award to Ecuador where he performed as orchestral soloist and pursued research on indigenous guitar traditions. José’s scholarly publications include Latin American Music Review, Soundboard, and the Latino Encyclopedia. He has lectured throughout the state for the NH Humanities Council on Ecuador on mythical traditions of the guitar and the guitar in Latin America. Most recently he serves as an elected member of the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, where he advocates for the State’s creative communities. His most recent composition is a double concerto for double basses, commissioned by and dedicated to the Buffalo Philharmonic and its conductor, Maestra JoAnn Fallleta, and the two principal bassists, Daniel Pendley and Brett Shurtliffe.

www.joselezcano.com