Acclaimed as both a virtuoso guitarist and prolific composer, Dr. José Manuel Lezcano has thrilled audiences on four continents. In programs of standard repertoire, Hispano-American composers, and original works, he has appeared in major venues and festivals, including Carnegie Recital Hall, the NYC North-South Consonance Series, Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago, Spain, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, China, Germany, and the Czech Republic as recitalist and concerto soloist.   Dr. Lezcano serves the School of Music at the University of Southern Maine (Gorham) as the Artist Lecturer in Guitar.  He continues to serve as Professor Emeritus at Keene State College, directing & coordinating the nationally acclaimed and NASM-accredited guitar program there.  Described  by Fanfare Magazine as "an excellent guitarist as well as an imaginative composer," Jose has earned numerous professional recognitions, including first prize in the MTNA National Guitar Competition, the NHSCA Individual Artist Fellowship, NHMTA Composer of the Year(twice), KSC Distinguished Research Award, and a Fulbright Award to Ecuador, where he pursued research on the guitar as ritual instrument in indigenous / mestizo summer solstice festivals, and taught courses at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.  He has been a frequent guest artist at numerous chamber music series in New England, including Dartmouth College Vaughan Series, Mohawk Trail Concerts, Mariposa Museum, Bass Hall and Unitarian Church in Peterborough, Apple Hill, Electric Earth, Wisteria, Portland Chamber Music Festival (where he performed in Osvaldo Golijov’s “Ayre”), and Athenaeum concerts in Portsmouth, NH.  He is an avid chamber music collaborator, appearing frequently with pianist Virginia Eskin and cellist Rebecca Hartka (Duo Mundo), in canonical repertoire and his own original compositions.  He has also been invited to artist residencies & concerts at the Conservatory of the Pacific (Stockton, CA); Oberlin College (OH), Trinity Klein Concerts (Houston, TX) and served as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, Morris, in 2022.
          For his first Guitar Concerto, which he recorded with North-South Consonance and conductor/director Max Lifchitz on the CD, “Remembrances / Recuerdos,” he received two nomination sand was semi-finalist for Grammys in the categories “Best Contemporary Composition” and “Best Soloist with Orchestra.” He has appeared with the Orquesta Solistas de la Habana, Cuba; National Symphony of Ecuador; the National Symphony of Peru; the Orchestra of Tolima (Colombia); Orquesta Sinfonica de Loja (Ecuador);the Orquesta de Camera de Quito; the Portsmouth Symphony and Granite State Symphonies (NH); and the South Carolina Philharmonic, in concerti by Rodrigo, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Vivaldi, Giuliani, and Lezcano himself.  Most recently, José received an Ewing Arts Award in recognition of his distinguished career and contributions to the Arts in the Monadnock region.  Jose’s compositions, including chamber music, concerti, and songs involving the guitar, are published by Alry, Cayambis, and Mundo Arts of Barcelona.   Among his most recent projects: a commission from the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and its nine-time Grammy-winning conductor, Maestra JoAnn Falletta, for a double concerto for bass soloists, harp, and string orchestra, premiered to audience and critical acclaim May 5 & 6 2023, and published by Cayambis.  In May 2024, Jose performed the New York and world premiere of his Mojito concerto for guitar & string orchestra, conducted by Max Lifchitz and the North-South Consonance Orchestra.  An homage to Cuban popular dance genres of the Golden Age, it is published by Cayambis.
        Dr. Lezcano continues to serve in the Keene State College music department as Emeritus Professor of Music, after retiring from his tenured position in 2021.   Guitarists from Dr. Lezcano’s studio have been frequent winners of the College and music department’s most prestigious awards & scholarships, including Instrumentalist of the Year, the Presser Award, the Jesse Davis Award, and the Redfern Award.  They have received assistantships and graduated from prestigious graduate programs at Peabody Conservatory, Longy, Austin Peay State, and the University of Oregon, and are working as university and public school educators, performers, and private instructors.   Most recently, Dr. Lezcano served as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Liberal Arts (Spring 2022) at the University of Minnesota at Morris, teaching a course on Latin American music; performing both as soloist and with the Morris faculty; touring with the University Choir; and guest-lecturing in colleague’s classes.  He also serves as an elected member of the NH State Council on the Arts, where he advocates for New Hampshire's creative communities.

Dr. Lezcano's research into Andean folk and ritual music traditions was funded by grants from the US Fulbright Commission, the Whiting Foundation, and Keene State College.  His fieldwork with the guitarists and other musicians who celebrate Inti Raymi (Festival of the Sun), resulted in a lecture-performance titled "The Guitar & the Devil: Music, Magic, & Ritual among Northern Ecuadorean Indigenas & Mestizos," which he has shared as a public scholar on the To-go series of the New Hampshire Humanities Council, delivering the talk throughout the state.  Another lecture-performance under the auspices of NHHC, "The Guitar in Latin America," contextualizes the guitar as an instrument of multiple languages adapted to the aesthetics of Indigenous, Afro-diasporic, and Creole communities.  This talk includes live performance of works by Milan, Sanz, Villa-Lobos, Brouwer, Pernambuco, Merlin, Morel, Lezcano, & others

Dr.Lezcano began his guitar training at age 11 with Cuban guitarist Jose Costa and performed his first recital from memory at the age of 14.  He also received advanced training from Aaron Shearer (Peabody Conservatory); Christopher Berg (Univ. of S Carolina); and Juan Mercadal (Univ. of Miami).

As a teenager Jose was a winner of the Interlochen Concerto Competition, performing the Adagio from Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the World Youth Symphony under A. Clyde Roller.  He also played privately for luminaries Andrés Segovia and Federico Moreno Torroba, both of whom encouraged him to pursue further training and a professional musical career.  He received his education at Peabody Conservatory of Music (BM) on a talent scholarship; University of South Carolina (MM) on a teaching assistantship, and the Florida State University on a Fellowship where he earned a Ph.D. in music theory.  He was recently invited to coordinate the Cheshire County Classic Concerts, with grants from the Cheshire County Board of Commissioners and State Representatives, to showcase established local and regional performers of national & international acclaim, and to encourage young emerging talents.  The concerts took place in multiple towns & venues of the County; in the summers of 2021 & 2022 in Keene, Dublin, Jaffrey, Nelson, Swanzey, and Troy.  See full schedule at joselezcano.wordpress.com.