John Martin Curriculum Vitae

Born 9/25/1960 in Orlando, Florida

Currently resides in Smyrna, Georgia with his two sons Ryne and David.

John Martin studied privately with John Scott and Lyster Bass in primary, middle and high school. He then began and completed a Bachelor’s Degree of Fine Arts in guitar performance at the University of Georgia with John Sutherland. He has also performed at masterclasses with José Tomás, Christopher Parkening, Jorge Morel, Manuel Barrueco, and John Marshall.

His awards and achievements include:

State champion: Georgia Music Teachers Asssociation 1980

2nd place regional award: Music Teachers Association 1980

Concerto finalist: University of Georgia 1981

Concerto finalist: Georgia State University 1982

Kennedy center artist roster: 1998-present

Represented the United States in their international concert series at the IDB Bank in Washington, DC, 1997.

For more than twenty years he has been performing professionally in the Atlanta area with concerts in Washington, D.C., New York, California, and in Europe, averaging over 150 concerts and performances per year. He has performed for heads of state including President Gerald Ford, Vice-President Al Gore, Lech Walesa (with his colleagues, guitarist Rick Pruett and saxophonist Sam Skelton), and private concerts for President Carter and his family here in the US and recently in Toledo, Spain. A private performance for Tipper Gore was requested along with a performence during the inaugural celebration at the Naval Observatory for Vice-President Gore and his family. Other luminaries that have heard and appreciated John’s work include Herbie Hancock, John Scofield, Laurence Fishburne, Jane Fonda and Ted Turner, the Nobel laureates of literature and the Olympic Athletes in Atlanta in 1996, among many others. His album Progressions has also been critically acclaimed.

He currently has a fully realized orchestral rehearsal series of CD’s of some of the most important guitar concerti, which includes composers Leo Brouwer, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Manuel Maria Ponce, that he personally created and performed and is distributed by the prestigious Guitar Solo Publications in San Francisco, California. The series will continue and will attempt to include many of the great guitar concerti for use as rehearsal material for students, amateurs, and professionals.

Perhaps John’s most prized appointment is US Editorship of the prestigious classical guitar magazine Guitart International. This position requires a huge commitment to excellence that includes interviews with the greatest classical guitarists working today, as well as CD and music reviews and various promotional junkets on the magazine’s behalf. In tandem with these duties, John also is Managing Director of Guitart International Concerts, Inc., a IRS recognized, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, whose mission is to bring US musicians to Europe and European artists here to the US in a cultural exchange of ideas and great music. Also, the creation of new music is an integral part of the foundation whose composers include the world famous composers Leo Brouwer and Egberto Gismonti.

For booking information please send all inquiries to: guitart@guitart.net

Phone: 770.438.6622