Celso Cano

Celso Cano is Visiting Assistant Professor of Guitar at Florida State University. Prior to his appointment at FSU, Cano served as faculty at Nova Southeastern University, Bronx Conservatory of Music, and Bloomingdale School of Music in New York City. His interests include performing both early and contemporary music, and expanding the repertoire through transcription and composition for guitar. As a performer, he has been the recipient of numerous prizes and awards including the Andrés Segovia Competition in Spain and the D’Addario Foundation Fellowship. His Eclipse for guitar, cello, and percussion was composed and performed while in residence at the Baryshnikov Art Center in New York City. His solo guitar piece, Souvenirs, received the Ignacio Cervantes Prize at the 2019 Leo Brouwer International Composition Competition.

Cano was born in Lima, Peru and moved to the United States at the age of eleven. He began his classical guitar studies with Lou Mowad in South Florida in 1987. In high school he attended the Stetson International Guitar Workshop, where he performed in masterclasses with Stephen Robinson and Adam Holzman. He earned the B.M. in guitar performance at the University of Arizona, where he studied with Thomas Patterson, and the M.M. from Florida International University, where he studied under Rafael Padrón and Mesut Özgen. At FIU, he also learned to play lute while studying with lutenist and musicologist David Dolata. He became the first guitarist to win the School of Music’s annual concerto competition, performing Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the FIU Symphony Orchestra under the direction of James Judd. Cano earned the D.M. in guitar performance from Florida State University, where he studied under world-renowned guitar professor, Bruce Holzman.