Manuel Barrueco (born December 16, 1952) is a Cuban

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

ist resident in the United States.

Biography

Born in

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

, Barrueco began playing the guitar at the age of eight. Following the 1959 Cuban revolution, Barrueco's father withdrew his son from the state schools, and obtained private at-home education for his three children, Manuel and his sisters Miriam and Lucia. Barrueco subsequently attended the Esteban Salas Conservatory for music studies. In 1967, Barrueco and his family emigrated to the United States as political refugees. Initially resident in Miami, Florida, Barrueco continued his guitar studies in Miami with Juan Mercadal. The family then moved to Newark, New Jersey, where Barrueco continued his guitar studies with Rey de la Torre. Barrueco made his

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

recital debut in 1974. He joined the faculty of the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

in 1974. He graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music with a

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

degree in 1975. Barrueco joined the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory in 1990. Barrueco has made several recordings for

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

, including his 2006 album, ''¡Cuba!''. In the 2000's, Barrueco started his own record label, Tonar. His performances have been broadcast by television stations such as

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

in Japan,

Bayerischer Rundfunk (; "Bavarian Broadcasting"), shortened to BR (), is a public broadcasting, public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Bavaria, Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD (b ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...

in Spain. In the United States, he has been featured in a

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

car commercial, on ''CBS Sunday Morning'', A&E's ''Breakfast with the Arts'', and ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood''. A one-hour documentary portrait, ''Manuel Barrueco: A Gift and a Life'', was produced in 2006. It includes several performances and interviews, in one of which he reminisces over his childhood years in Cuba, and pledges never to return until the present

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

regime has come to an end. In 2012, Barrueco was named a Fontanals Fellow of

United States Artists United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards. Mission The organization' ...

. Barrueco has been married twice. His second wife, Asgerdur Sigurdardottir, manages the Tonar label and Barrueco's business matters.

References

External links

*
Record company Tonar

All Music page on Manuel Barrueco

Peabody Institute page on Manuel Barrueco

Some photos of LP covers
(Oviatt Library Digital Collections)
Interview
with UrbanGuitar.com

with Paul Magnussen for ''Guitar'' magazine (Apr 1983)

with Greg Szeto for Aural States (Dec 2007
alt.

In Session: Manuel Barrueco
Forum GFA "Guitar Foundation of America"

by David Reynolds {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrueco, Manuel 1952 births Cuban classical guitarists Cuban male guitarists Johns Hopkins University faculty MNRK Music Group artists Living people Peabody Institute faculty

Biography

See also

References

External links