March 2018 Meeting: Fabio Zanon

Thursday, March 8, 2018, at 7:00 PM

Mannes School of Music, Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall, 55 West 13th Street, 7th floor

Masterclass

NYCCGS Member Events are free and open to all members and first-time guests, and are supported by a generous grant from the D’Addario Foundation.


Fabio Zanon is one of the pre-eminent guitarists of today. As a solo and chamber player, author, conductor, teacher and broadcaster, he has sought to expand the perception of the guitar in the concert scene.

Born in Brazil, he started his musical studies in early age with his father, and completed his education at the São Paulo University and at the Royal Academy of Music in London. His most significant teachers were Antonio Guedes, Henrique Pinto, Edelton Gloeden, and Michael Lewin, and he also attended the Julian Bream master classes in London.

Although not greatly drawn to competitions, his career had a significant impulse after he won both the Guitar Foundation of America Competition in the United States and Tarrega Competition in Spain within weeks of each other in 1996. He has received many awards for his concerts and recordings, the most unexpected being the award as best concert performance of 2006 in Brazil for his debut as an operatic conductor.

He has performed in some of the most prestigious halls of Europe, Asia, and North and South America, and released several recordings to critical acclaim. An inspiring teacher, he has taught at most of the major conservatoires from Los Angeles to Moscow. In 2008 he was appointed a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

He has performed more than 40 different works for guitar and orchestra, and his chamber music repertoire and partners range from the most traditional to the most adventurous. In 2009 he released Yanomami, a CD for choir and guitar with Coro Cervantes. His next release was a live recording of Francis Hime’s massive cross-over Guitar Concerto with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. In 2009 he also published his first book, Villa-Lobos, to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of the great Brazilian composer.