Dr. Jose Manuel Lezcano

Teaching at Keene State gives me the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young people who are passionate about music, as I am. The classical guitar is going through an exciting period of growth, both in new repertoire and an increased level of performance. I enjoy the challenges of studio teaching and hearing my students perform and improve their musicianship and technical skills.

I also enjoy directing the Guitar Orchestra. Together, we have explored a wide range of repertoire, including Renaissance Dances, Vivaldi Concerti, Beatles tunes, and the most adventurous compositions of today’s composers, like Arvo Part, Andrew York, and Leo Brouwer. Members of the orchestra and I have taken our music to Boston, New York, Staten Island, Ecuador, and around the state to conferences, high schools, and private academies to share with audiences and promote the Keene State music program. – José Lezcano

Described by Fanfare Magazine as “an excellent guitarist as well as an imaginative composer,” José Manuel Lezcano is Professor Emeritus of Music at Keene State College where he teaches and coordinates guitar, directs the Guitar Orchestra and Latin Ensemble. Dr. Lezcano’s guitar students have been frequent winners of the Department’s and College’s highest awards and scholarships. He is a twice Grammy-nominated composer and guitarist, twice New Hampshire Music Educators’ Commissioned Composer, Fulbright scholar, recipient of KSC’s Distinguished Research Award, and critically acclaimed guitarist with solo, chamber, and concerto performances at venues and festivals in China (for Apple Hill’s Playing for Peace), Brazil, Ecuador, Czech Republic, Germany, Peru, Spain, Portugal, Crete, Colombia, and New York, where he premiered two Guitar Concerti of his authorship with the North South Consonance Orchestra and conductor Max Lifchitz in 2005 and 2013.
Jose has frequently performed on New England concert series, including Electric Earth, Portland Chamber Music, Wisteria Chamber Music Society, Claremont Summer Concerts, Monadnock Bass Hall Series, and Apple Hill. He has also appeared in recent years nationally as solo recitalist on university and civic concert series in Oberlin, Houston, Charleston, Clemson, Hartford, Memphis, New Haven, Sarasota, Miami, West Virginia, Massachusetts, and upstate New York. Among his recent international performances: a solo recital of Iberoamerican works at the Barcelona Festival of Song, and a recital-lecture (The Guitar in Spain: Musical Reflections of a Turbulent History) at the International Animamusic Congress of Organalogy in Caldas de Reinha, Portugal (June 2017); an Artist Residency at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (November 2016); and a concert at the Identidades International Festival (Havana, February 2016), where he played his second Double concerto for flute, guitar and strings (“Sojourners”) at the Basilica Menor de San Fransisco de Asisi, with Antipe di Stella, and Ivan Valiente conducting the Orquesta Solistas de la Habana. H returned to Havana in March 2017 to perform a cello-guitar concert with KSC cello teacher Rebecca Hartka at the Havana International Cello Festival; their concert included the Cuban premiere of his Cello Sonata, recently released to critical acclaim on Rebecca's CD entitled "Coleurs. Recent premieres include “Mojito, Guitar & String Quartet” (2017) which he performed with the Portland Chamber Music Society and at the Portland Athaneum Concert Series in September, 2017. In 2016 he received an Ewing Arts Award from the Keene Sentinel, in recognition of his international performing and teaching career, and contributions to the arts in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. Dr. Lezcano earned degrees from Peabody Conservatory (BM), University of South Carolina (MM), and Florida State University (Ph.D., Music Theory). Most recently he serves as an elected member of the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, where he advocates for the State’s creative communities.

https://www.nh.gov/nharts/aboutus/councilorbios/lezcano.html www.joselezcano.com http://www.cayambismusicpress.com/jose-lezcano-s/2049.htm https://www.creativeground.org/profile/jose-lezcano-0