Introducing… JOAQUIN CLERCH — New tonebase Artist!
This coming week, we are looking forward to releasing Joaquin Clerch’s new tonebase lesson on “El Decameron Negro” by Leo Brouwer! To tide you over until then, here are some interesting anecdotes about Joaquin’s multi-faceted career, as well as a few videos of his compositions and recordings.
“Joaquín Clerch is probably one of the world’s — if not the — leading guitar players of his generation.” — Eliot Fisk
What sets Joaquin apart from so many modern classical guitarists is his complete mastery of every role a professional musician can possibly inhabit. Concert artist. Pedagogue. Composer. Competitor. Movie star?? Most people are fine pursuing just one of these, but somehow throughout his career, Joaquin has managed to effortlessly shift between each.
Concert Artist
Joaquin’s artistic prowess as a performer can no doubt be attributed partly to the amazing pedagogues he had the opportunity to study with. Leo Brouwer, Eliot Fisk, and Costas Cotsiolis are just the shortlist of legendary players he received his instrumental training from.
This expert guidance quickly led him to the stage of concert halls and festivals around the world, with the most recent being the 2018 GFA Convention where he performed a set of Brouwer’s music with the man himself seated in the second row! During the concert, Joaquin remarked, “It’s no easy task playing for your old teacher, especially when he’s also the composer!”
Pedagogue
Those who have followed tonebase are already familiar with a few of Joaquin’s all-star students. Current tonebase artists Rafael Aguirre, Andrea Caballero, and Ali Arango all studied at one point in Joaquin’s studio at Robert Schumann University in Düsseldorf. (p.s. Stay tuned for another star student of Joaquin’s — Mircea Gogoncea — to soon be added to that list!) In recent years, these students have dominated competitions, most notably the Francisco Tarrega International Guitar Competition where Joaquin’s “guitar-playing minions” took home first prize four years in a row!
Composer
As you may have witnessed in Andrea’s performance above (you’ll want to scroll up if you missed it! ⬆️), Joaquin followed in his mentor Leo Brouwer’s footsteps by not only being a great performer but also making his own contributions to the guitar repertoire.
Joaquin is no hobbyist composer either. His piece Yemaya was awarded first prize in the 1987 National Cuban Composition Competition. (You can hear this fascinating work on Rafael Aguirre’s Naxos album) Oh, and those students we mentioned a minute ago… they’re all winning competitions playing his pieces such as this “Estudio de Escalas.”
While it will only be a blip on the Maestro’s resume, soon we will be able to add tonebase Artist to the long list of hats Joaquin Clerch has worn over his illustrious career! To get you excited about his upcoming lesson, we’ll end this little feature with Joaquin’s recording of the Brouwer masterpiece he will be teaching — El Decameron Negro. Enjoy!
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