A determined student of the guitar The virtuoso classical guitarist Andrés Torres Segovia (February 21, 1893 – June 2, 1987) was born in the town of Linares, situated in one of Spain's autonomous regions, Andalusia. He is widely regarded as one of the, if not the, best known classical guitar personalities of the 20th century. He made a major contribution to the expansion of modern classical guitar repertoire through his collaboration with prominant composers, and his own guitar transcriptions of existing works. An expressive performer, he is remembered for a distinctive (often instantly recognizable) musical personality in tone, phrasing and style. Andres SegoviaUp to the age of two years Segovia lived with his parents, but thereafter he lived in care of his Uncle and Aunt, Eduardo and Maria in the village of Villacarrillo. Segovia began playing the guitar at age six, early on he was taught flamenco by an amateur flamenco guitarist named Agustinillo. Indeed Segovia's first instrument was one formely played by the famous gypsy flamenco player Paco de Lucena. His parents objected to him learning this lowly instrument which only belonged in taverns, and promptly sent him for cello and piano lessons. Little Andrés persisted in learning the guitar. His Uncle and Aunt moved to Granada where Segovia was to receive a formal education, and so at age 10 Andrés found himself seeking guitar instruction at the Granada Institute of Music.....finding no teacher of the instrument he set out to teach himself! Two years later he had his first experience of classical guitar music when he heard a performance by a flamenco guitarist Gabriel Ruiz de Almadóvar, who was playing Tarréga preludes. While in Granada he immersed himself in the experience of the Alhambra Palace (The inspiration for Tarréga's Requerdos de la Alhambra) which he regarded as a spiritual awakening. (Watch this video) Andrés Segovia's first public perfomance was held when he was 15 years of age. Following a concert at the Arts Center of Granada 1909 Segovia decided to make a career of concert guitar playing saying “suddenly I decided to be the Apostle of the guitar". He subsequently left school to concentrate on guitar and music studies - his deficiencies in technique were made up for partly by the detailed practice of scales.
