“García’s stage presence is riveting, but at the same time he can take the audience into his confidence like a trusted friend. The audience was spellbound as he performed the music of Villa-Lobos, Barrios, Dyens, and Piazzolla.” – Piedmont Post
Leo Garcia is an award-winning classical guitarist, recording artist, author, and sought-after educator.
Described as “intelligent, musical, and technically impeccable” by Eliot Fisk and as “a faithful interpreter of Mangore’s musical art” by Alirio Diaz, Garcia has performed across North America, South America, and Europe as both a soloist and as a chamber musician. Recent performances included a world premiere of Grammy Award-winning composer Sergio Assad’s Tres Cenas Brasileiras II for two guitars, written for and performed with his sons.
He has acted as a jury member, performer, and lecturer at music festivals such as the Boston Guitar Festival, the Yale Guitar Extravaganza, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Guitar Foundation of America’s International Festival, and the Bay Area’s Junior Bach Festival. Most recently, he was featured in The Omni Foundation’s On-Location Concert Series.
As an educator, he has worked with hundreds of children and families for over 25 years through KinderGuitar. He has authored over 10 curriculum books for KinderGuitar, several editions of music by Bach, Albéniz, Barrios, and Narváez, and numerous books on guitar technique, and his writings have appeared in Guitar Review, the Tonebase blog, the KinderGuitar blog, and Six String Journal.
Garcia grew up in Venezuela but left to pursue higher education in the U.S., eventually earning a B.A. in economics from Yale, an M.M. and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, and a Graduate Performance degree from the New England Conservatory before founding and developing KinderGuitar, a music education program. The success of KinderGuitar led quickly to its expansion, and now, with three San Francisco Bay Area locations and one in New Mexico, KinderGuitar offers training and licensing to highly qualified aspiring educators to help them create successful and sustainable music-teaching studios for children in their communities.