Collection: Ortiz, José Antonio Guerrero

José Antonio Guerrero Ortiz (born Texas, 1979) was brought up in Monterrey, Mexico. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Texas Lutheran University and a Master’s from Texas State University. He has been a performer for over twenty-five years, five of which were devoted to the study of Flamenco guitar and its music with the Ballet Nacional Folklorico of Corpus Christi, Texas.

Guerrero Ortiz studied music from the age of 8 under classical pianists Kim Bryce and Sarah Reina and classical guitarists Philip Hii, Tony Morris, Michael Soupkup, Michael Perez, Gabriel Ayala, Mark Anthony Cruz and Dr.Kürsad Terci. He has performed in master classes with, among others, Los Romeros Guitar Quartet (Pepe and Celin Romero), Flamenco guitarist Juan Serrano, Fernand Vera from Kithara Duo, Dr Matthew Hinsley (Director of the American Classical Guitar Society), and Bolivian guitarist Javier Calderon.

At the age of 18, Guerrero Ortiz joined salsa outfit LatinTalk, with whom he shared the stage with such influential artists as Strunz and Farah, Jose Feliciano, Lara and Reyes, and Guadalupe Esparza. Aside from performing in the nationally recognised Texas Jazz Festival, Guerrero Ortiz has performed throughout Texas and internationally. He performs his solo music on the ten-string classical guitar.

As a composer, Guerrero Ortiz has had three of his compositions for solo guitar - Prelude, Nocturne, and Fantasia (Homenaje a Dimitri Fampas) - premiered by the dedicatee Eva Fampas in Greece, and performed in Brazil by Professor Cibele Pedroso Rodrigues.  His compositions are full of direct and emotive melody, with identifiable influences from Spanish, Latin and Turkish music as well as classical and baroque. They are harmonically sophisticated and technically challenging. 

Visit the composer’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/elduendecillo07