Traditional Guitar Faculty; Mandolin; Ukulele
HCD Music
Education
DMA - University of Hartford
MM - SUNY Fredonia
BM - SUNY Fredonia
Mexican-American classical guitarist Emilio Garcia has appeared in concert as a soloist and chamber musician. His performances have garnered awards such as 1st Prize in the 2022 Rising Talents of the Americas International Music Competition, 2nd place at the 2017 Onondaga Community College Performance Competition, the Louis A. Armstrong Jazz Award, and various other scholarships for excellence in performance and musicianship.
Emilio has most recently performed in 2026 with the long-standing Hop River Chamber ensemble performing celebrated chamber works for guitar including Luigi Boccherini’s “Guitar Quintet in D major.” That same year he was also featured as a solo artist in the Nick Cutroneo Guitar Studio Concert Series. He has worked with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra on various programs such as “Discovery: I’m a Survivor”, “A New World: Intimate music from Final Fantasy”, and “The Music of Tina Turner” at the 2025 Talcott Mountain Music Festival. Emilio has also performed alongside internationally renowned, Hartford based vocal group, Voce Inc. in both 2024 and 2025. In March of 2023, Emilio was a featured artist as a part of the Connecticut Guitar Guild’s “Guitar Sessions” Concert Series. Other notable appearances include as a member of the 2020 Inaugural Virtual Guitar Orchestra that premiered the newly commissioned work “Kaliedokithara” by esteemed guitarist/composer Sergio Assad and as a member of the SUNY Fredonia flagship touring ensemble, The Fredonia Guitar Quartet from 2017-2020.
Emilio has premiered new works for guitar by Fraser Andras, Jon Howe, and Louis Steven Latham as well as transcribing and performing obscure, 20th century Mexican works by composers such as Octaviano Yanez, Francisco Salinas, Guillermo Gomez, and Rafael Adame as part of his research interests in the Mexican classical guitar. Mr. Garcia’s lecture “The Development of the Mexican Classical Guitar and its Repertoire” was recently featured in 2025 at the 3rd annual Connecticut Guitar Guild festival in Cromwell, CT.
Emilio has performed in masterclasses with renowned artists such as William Kanengiser, Rene Izquierdo, Bokyung Byun, Andrea Gonzáles Caballero, Mak Grgić, Berta Rojas, Adam Cicchillitti, Doug Rubio, Christopher Ladd, Dr. Peter Clemente, and world-famous guitarist/composer Leo Brouwer.
Emilio holds an Associate in Arts and Science Degree in Music from Onondaga Community College where he was instructed by renowned classical guitarist Kenneth Meyer. He also holds a Bachelor of Music Degree and Master of Music Degree in Performance from the State University of New York at Fredonia under the instruction of guitarists Evan Drummond, James Piorkowski, Khalil Sarikey, and Thomas Viloteau. Most recently, Emilio received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at The Hartt School under the instruction of acclaimed guitarists and teachers Christopher Ladd and Peter Clemente.
Dr. Garcia is now an adjunct faculty member at the Hartt School and has taught at various institutions throughout Connecticut including the Ethel Walker School, Miss Porter’s School, The Community Music School of Essex, The Hartt Community Division, Music & Arts, as well as his own private studio.
Teaching Philosophy:
Guitar has been one of the most popular instruments in mainstream media and music for the last 50 years. Despite this popularity, Guitar is not an instrument widely taught in primary or even secondary schools causing most young guitarists to end up self-taught and having little to no formal training. I was self-taught at first, and I know firsthand the problems that often arise from lack of experienced instruction. My primary goal as a Guitar teacher is to give students the tools to be a successful, functioning, musically literate guitarist in today’s musical climate no matter their genre of interest.
My goal starts with building student’s posture, technique, and reading skills to act as a strong foundation off which to base further study and advanced techniques. My second goal is for Students to learn musical literacy through the internalization use of a shared musical vocabulary and repertoire styles to express their dynamics, ideas, and phrasings to be able to communicate with other musicians in a clear and concise way, to create a not just a self-sufficient guitarist, but a well-rounded musician. My final goal involves instilling confidence in musical performance through a welcoming non-competitive environment where a student can build skills and experience while simultaneously feeling free to express their musical ideas without the pressure of failure or fear of embarrassment.
It should be noted that these concepts of musical literacy and performing all revolve around communication and presentation skills at their core which are lasting ideas that will prevail throughout student’s careers within and outside of the musical space, creating not only well-rounded musicians but well-rounded individuals.