Rene Izquierdo is a native of Cuba who graduated from the Guillermo Tomas, Amadeo Roldan Conservatory and Superior Institute of Art in Havana.
He earned a Master of Music degree and an artist diploma from Yale University School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Verdery. While at Yale, he represented the university in an exchange program with the Conservatoire National de Musique et de Danse du Paris and worked with guitarists Olivie Chassain and Roland Dyens.
Izquierdo has appeared as a guest soloist and in chamber music concerts throughout the United States, Cuba and Europe.
He said in a telephone interview that all of that travel and study helps him better understand the various musical styles he performs.
"Music is like speaking," he said.
"There are accents. Even within the United States, there are tons of different idiosyncrasies; and even though we are talking about the guitar, the way people approach it varies. For me, it's like being a good impersonator. But, also there are different life experiences. As you travel and see other cultures, you get a sense of different things."
He said standing in the same place - a garden, or a Spanish wheat field, for example - as a song's composer, gives him a better sense of what the music should inspire.
"It's like having your heart broken for the first time. Once it happens, you hear a song differently."
Izquierdo will perform a free show at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16, at Chattanooga State Community College, 4501 Amnicola Highway. The concert is being presented by GuitarChattanooga and The Multicultural and International Student Services Department at Chattanooga State.
He is currently a professor of classical guitar at the Wisconsin State University in Milwaukee. He has studied with Leo Brouwer, David Russell, Shin-Ichi Fukuda, Eli Kassner, Pepe Romero, Angel Romero, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, David Starobin, Eduard Fernandez, Jorge Morel, Robert Beaser and Anthony Newman.
He has shared the stage with prestigious guitarists including Eliot Fisk, Benjamin Verdery and Jorge Morel, as well as renowned flutist Ransom Wilson, soprano Lucy Shelton, David Jolley and Paquito d'Rivera. Renowned composers such as Jorge Morel and Carlos R. Rivera have dedicated works to him.
Izquierdo is winner of JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Competition, Extremadura International Guitar Competition, Schadt String competition and Stotsenberg International Guitar Competition, among others.
He said he is excited and appreciative of the opportunity to play and share his music here for the first time.
"I don't know if this will be a big show or a small one, but there is no event that is small enough if it puts music in front of people who would have otherwise not heard it."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.