Raúl Zambrano


Raúl Zambrano is a Mexican guitarist, mainly interested in Manuel M. Ponce's work for guitar, founder of The Manuel M Ponce Guitar Quartet in 1994 and director of the group since 2002. He collaborated in the creation of a new repertoire for guitar with musicians such as Juan Trigos, Hebert Vázquez, Horacio Uribe, Georgina Derbez, Emil Awad, Aurelio Tello and Julio César Oliva, who dedicated work to both him and his quartet. He created, jointly with Aurelio Tello and The College of Mexico's president, Javier Garciadiego Dantán, the Colmex Choir.jpg|thumb|Members of Coro Colmex in May 2012

Biographical data

Zambrano studied guitar with Manuel López Ramos. He was the director of the International Guitar Festival at the Gothic Chapel of The Hellenic Cultural Centre in Mexico City. From 2000 to 2005 he produced, with Valeria Palomino and the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the recording of the full guitar works by Manuel M. Ponce, where eleven prominent guitar players participated. In 2010 he studied, with Dirk Snellings and Capilla Flamenca, a program which establishes the relationship between French-Flemish polyphony and that of Hispanic America's chapels.

Discography

Several radio projects for the broadcasting of academic music have been produced and hosted by Zambrano:
Since 1991, Raúl Zambrano has been working with several stage directors, for whom he wrote music:
"Zambrano makes a great impression in every convincing piece: this is about universal music precisely because it allows us to see its character in detail. A top level recording."
"Raúl Zambrano is a guitarist with an extraordinary sensitivity, much more inclined towards musical quality than virtuosity. His secret is not to exaggerate, giving each note its precise musical value without falling into the trap of imitation or becoming another version of this successful Mexican concerto, he is a guitarist par excellence. This represents an achievement by and for Zambrano. Sincerely, his meticulous interpretation is always welcome and celebrated."
"I think reading this book should be mandatory for theater people. I think reading it would be simultaneously provocative and delightful for musicians. It is, however, one of those books which, although being surprisingly erudite, can be read with interest by those considering a western man's tough conflict for an expression which finds its purest space in music."