Gerald Garcia

Gerald Garcia studied Chemistry at Oxford University and now lives in Oxford where he enjoys cooking, computer music, Taoist Yoga and conducting the odd chamber orchestra. When not performing as a guitarist in Borneo or the Arctic Circle, he composes music for guitar and live productions. His '25 Etudes Esquisses' for guitar solo have been recorded for NAXOS by John Holmquist and his music has been played and recorded by David Russell, Craig Ogden, the Amadeus Duo, the Eden-Stell Duo, Xue Fei Yang, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and John Williams. His compositions have also been performed or recorded by the Oxford Concert Party and the early music ensemble Charivari Agreable. His Concerto for 2 Guitars based on themes collected by Garcia Lorca has been performed throughout Europe and is a staple of the guitar duo repertoire – it has recently been recorded on the Hanssler label by the Amadeus Duo and with the National Youth Guitar Ensemble by the Eden Stell Duo. His orchestral and choral music has been performed at the Festival for Youth and Music two years running and has written many guitar and orchestral works. His music and arrangements have been published worldwide by Mel Bay, Holley Music, ABG publications, Guitarissimo and Cramer. His teaching experience has included educational workshops with Kent Opera, English National Opera and the Academy of St.Martin-in-the- Fields. He is at present musical director of the National Youth Guitar Ensemble which brings together young guitarists from all over the country to play guitar orchestral pieces. He has taken part in and created music workshops for both school children and teachers in Britain and Scotland and is a popular adjudicator at music festivals around the world. He teaches regularly at the Iserlohn and West Dean guitar festivals each year. As a session guitarist he has been heard in many films scored by Gabriel Yared, Michel Legrand, Stanley Meyers and Philippe Sarde, amongst others. He has recorded more than 12 CDs which have sold more than 40,000 copies world-wide. He has performed with many other musicians and actors, notably guitarists Paco Peña, John Renbourn and John Williams, and performs in a duo with Alison Bendy and with Simon Mayor's Mandolinquents as well as in an occasional Irish"ensemble" with Mick Henry, Bernard O'Donoghue, John Pethica and Tom Paulin. In October 1995 he toured China in a duo with guitarist John Williams playing to audiences of tens of thousands of Chinese guitarists and teaching at Beijing and Shanghai conservatoires. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.