Marco-Antonio Diaz-Tamayo

Senior Lecturer in Guitar⋅Strings Department⋅Pre-College

Marco Tamayo is the winner of several major international competitions, including the Andrés Segovia Competition in Granada and the Michele Pittaluga International Guitar Competition, Città di Alessandria, in Italy. He studied in Cuba with Antonio Alberto Rodríguez and Leo Brouwer, and later in Austria with Eliot Fisk (guitar), Reiner Schmidt (violin), Anthony Spiri (harpsichord) and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, among others. He has recorded several albums for the Naxos label and has taught classical guitar at the Mozarteum University, as well as at the Carinthian State Conservatory (Landeskonservatorium) in Klagenfurt, since 2001. In 2006, he was awarded the venia docendi by the Mozarteum University.

Hailed as “Il Re della Chitarra” by the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Marco Tamayo is renowned for his expressive interpretations and outstanding technical command. His book Principles of the Classical Guitar Performance was published by Chanterelle in 2009.

Tamayo has undertaken extensive tours throughout Europe, Asia, the USA, South Africa and Mozambique, performing with renowned conductors such as Kurt Redel, Paolo Ferrara, Damian Iorio, Philippe Bender, Leo Brouwer, Alexis Soriano and Rail Gutiérrez. He has appeared with orchestras including the Chamber Orchestra of Aix-en-Provence, the Turin Philharmonic, the St Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of the City of Havana and the Philharmonic Orchestra of the University of Venice. He has also performed with the St Petersburg Philharmonic, the Tampere Philharmonic and Oulu Philharmonic (Finland), the TransArt Orchestra Salzburg, Ars Musicae Klagenfurt, and the Sinfónica de la UANL in Monterrey (Mexico), among others.

Marco Tamayo made his debut at the Chopin–Pleyel Hall in Paris and is the founder of the Salzburg Guitar Society. He has also received the Mauro Giuliani Prize from the Giuliani family for his interpretations of the composer’s works. He is a regular juror at international guitar competitions, including the Michele Pittaluga International Guitar Competition (Italy), the Volos International Guitar Competition (Greece), the Milan International Guitar Competition, the Ljubljana International Music Competition, the Villa de Petrer International Guitar Competition (Spain), the Krynica International Guitar Competition (Poland), and the Belgrade International Guitar Festival. He also regularly gives masterclasses at international festivals and institutions such as Seoul University of Arts, San Francisco University, and the universities of Monterrey (Mexico), Volos (Greece) and Barcelona.

He is a frequent guest at festivals including the Belgrade International Guitar Festival, the Oulu International Orchestral Music Season (Finland), the San Francisco International Guitar Festival, the Aix-en-Provence Music Festival and the Uppsala International Guitar Festival. In September 2006, Marco Tamayo was named an honorary citizen of the city of Alessandria (Piedmont, Italy). He collaborates with Alirio Díaz and Micaela Pittaluga in the artistic direction of the International Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition, Città di Alessandria, where he won first prize in 1999. Together with Micaela Pittaluga, he is also co-artistic director of the Chitarra dal Mondo music festival in Alessandria.

Marco Tamayo records for Naxos Classical; his discography includes albums dedicated to Cuban music, the works of Mauro Giuliani, and the guitar music of Niccolò Paganini.