Biography (read more)
Jose de Azpiazu (1912-1986) was a Spanish, Basque-born guitarist, arranger, and composer, born in Onate near San Sebastian. He began studying guitar at age 13 under an uncle and performed at festivals in his native region while still a teenager. He made his professional debut on Radio Bilbao around age 24 and went on to devote himself full-time to a concert career. He is primarily known today as a prolific arranger and pedagogue for the classical guitar rather than as a composer of original large-scale works; his 1954 “Suite in C” won first prize for composition at an International Society of Guitarists competition in Modena, Italy. Note: no English-language Wikipedia article exists for Azpiazu, so this biography draws on classical guitar repertoire and sheet-music reference sources rather than Wikipedia.
Azpiazu is best remembered for his guitar arrangements of Spanish folk material, particularly “El Vito”, which remain popular teaching and concert pieces in the classical guitar repertoire.
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