What happens when total mastery of the flamenco, jazz, and classical guitar styles intersect?
Well, I wouldn’t know. But I have been playing the guitar and making music for most of my life.
I was raised in Southern California, where my family and I lived until 2008. Later, during our years in El Salvador, I asked my father to teach me how to play the guitar. We started with the music dearest to him: South American folklore, particularly the Andean traditions.
I eventually came to Albuquerque, where I started studying flamenco with Alejandro Pais Iriart and Jose Valle “Chuscales.” Flamenco would become the center of my career as a musician for years. During that time, I also studied music theory & composition and classical guitar performance at the University of New Mexico.
There, I was fortunate to get to know two dear mentors, Jim Balagurchik and Michael Chapdelaine. Both of them have and continue to guide how I approach playing, improvisation, and listening. I have continued to study jazz with Balagurchik in the years since in the form of our jazz trio, which is an integral part of my musical life today.
During college, some fellow students and I started a music education nonprofit to work with communities in Albuquerque’s South Valley. Getting to learn, create, and play music with kids changed my whole trajectory, and I wholeheartedly went into a career as an elementary school teacher right after graduating. Learning about history, ourselves, and how to move in the world with those kids was, as with music, completely captivating.
Five years of that flew by, and now I have shifted into mainly playing and composing music, as well as running a recording studio in Albuquerque. I spend my time working in and between flamenco, jazz, Andean folklore, and other musical areas.
Education
University of New Mexico: 2016 – 2020
- Bachelor of Music: Music Theory & Composition
- Bachelor of Music: Guitar Performance (under Michael Chapdelaine and Ben Silva)
University of New Mexico: 2020 – 2023
- Masters of Art: Elementary Education
- K-8 Elementary Teaching License
- Endorsement 67: Bilingual Education
New Mexico Arts Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program (NEA)
- Apprentice under Jose Valle “Chuscales,” internationally renowned flamenco guitarist
- Selected in 2021 by a National Endowment for the Arts panel
Past & Present Projects
Carita: Songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist from 2025 – present
Jim Balagurchik Trio: Jazz guitarist and composer from 2022 – present
Grupo Andino Soroche: Guitarist, charanguista, & vocalist from 2020 – present
Jesus Muñoz Flamenco Company: Principal guitarist and musical director from 2023 – 2024, including the Volver, En Cabaret, and Green Box Arts Festival productions
Casa Triana Flamenco Company: Principal guitarist for the 2025 winter production at the Hairpin Arts Center in Chicago
Compañía Chuscales & Mina Fajardo: Second guitarist (under Chuscales) for various productions from 2019 – 2022
Mathias Rodriguez 