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| VICTOR MANUEL RUIZ DEL VALLE Born in Mexico City, he began his musical studies in 1977 at the Escuela Superior de Música del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes. The following year he entered the National Conservatory of Music, studying classical guitar for six years with the internationally-acclaimed Professor Guillermo Flores Méndez. In 1984 he entered the Cardenal Miranda Institute of Liturgical Music and Arts, where he continued his study of classical guitar with professor Flores Méndez He has been involved in a variety of musical disciplines, including music for theater, cinema and dance. In 1981 he recorded his first album, independently produced, with the group Flüght, voted best of the year by a panel of music critics. It was reedited and reissued at the end of 1999. He performed with Flüght at the XIII Festival Internacional Cervantino and The Jazz Festival in Guanajuato, Mexico, in addition to other concerts at a variety of theaters and universities in Mexico. A self-taught electric bassist, he played the bass with the Mexican/Salvadorian group Yolocamba I Ta, from 1987 to 1992. The group performed in numerous international festivals, among them the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, the WOMAD Festival in Toronto, the Glasgow Mayfest Festival, the Víctor Jara Festival in Amsterdam, and the Boulder Folk and Bluegrass Festival, in addition to giving concerts in a wide variety of venues, including the Smithsonian Institution. Also with Yolocamba I Ta, he recorded two compact discs, Cara o Cruz (Flying Fish Records, USA, 1989) and Canciones para la Nueva Vida (CEBES, Nicaragua, 1990), as well as participating in the film Romero starring Raúl Julia (Paulist Pictures, USA, 1988). |
| Since 2000 he has been living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA), where he has continued studying composition at Duquesne University and jazz guitar with Ken Karsh. He has been musical coordinator of the Latin American Cultural Union (LACU) since 2001 and has performed with various local groups, playing tango, jazz, classical and folkloric music. Currently he plays guitar in addition to arranging and composing for the Latin jazz band Puro Queso Jazz Q. |
| This guitar was handmade by Alejandro Mendoza, one of the best luthiers of Mexico City. Alex made two guitars for me, a classical guitar and this other cutaway guitar with a built-in Piezo pick-up, for playing tangos and Brazilian stuff. I love them. Thanks for your excellent work Alex. |
| Since 1992, he has developed his abilities as an arranger and producer, while continuing a 21 year career as a music teacher. From 1996 to 1998 he was musical director, arranger, and producer of the group Ensamble Musical of the Universidad Tecnológica de México, for which he produced various concerts and three compact discs. In 1998 he resumed his formal musical studies at the Cardenal Miranda Institute of Liturgical Music and Arts, with course work in musicology, art history, guitar and composition, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Musicology in June of 2003. |
| Professor Guillermo de Mendía, my teacher at the Cardenal Miranda Institute in Mexico City, who taught me the basics of writing music and gave me many tools for understanding music. |
| This is Marushka, my PRS Hollowbody electric guitar |
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| My teacher and friend Guillermo Flores Méndez |
| The great Ken Karsh My friend, teacher and inspiration for struggling and learning more every day Thanks Ken |
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