When Isaac Bustos reflects back on his childhood in Nicaragua, he has difficulty thinking of moments where he didn’t have a guitar in his hands. From the day he learned his first chord, all the way to his first debut album in 2008, Bustos exemplified the potential of how far honest devotion can carry someone forward.
Today, Bustos is the artistic director of the Texas A&M International Guitar Symposium and Competition and an instructional assistant professor in music and guitar studio in the Department of Performance Studies at Texas A&M University— a job that requires him to perform in concerts all around the globe. His most recent show took place April 25 in the small town of Pendleton, Oregon where he performed with the Oregon East Symphony at the Vert Auditorium.
As the guitar soloist, Bustos and the symphony performed Joaquin Rodrigo’s famous concerto, “Concierto de Aranjuez.”
“They have a very vibrant music scene in Pendleton,” Bustos said. “The symphony is the nucleus of that community so there was a lot of people there and they were pumped. Playing there with the sound of an orchestra behind you is overwhelming.”
While this would be a significant experience for any guitarist, this was not Bustos’ first time in front of an orchestra. As a solo artist and member of the Texas Guitar Quartet, Bustos holds top prizes in 12 competitions—seven of which are first place prizes.
He has also released two albums—one solo and one with the Texas Guitar Quartet—and is expected to complete his third album in San Francisco sometime in mid-May.
As early as age 10, Bustos began to learn guitar from his father in Nicaragua and felt an immediate connection with the instrument.
“My father asked me to go to the conservatory in Nicaragua and I think that’s where everything just kind of fell into place. That was it,” Bustos said.
Bustos received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of New Hampshire as well as a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
“It was like a game for me,” Bustos said. “I would come home and the first thing I would do is pick up the guitar. It was simply fun and wasn’t until I got to college that I realized I was advanced.”
Bustos says that the performance aspect of his career aids in his success as a teacher.
“It’s a balance,” Bustos said. “To be an effective teacher you have to be a role model and be able to show the students that you can do certain things that you are telling them to do. I tell my students the reason I come here is for them. Teaching is a big part of what I do in addition to performing.”
A week before his performance in Oregon, Bustos played a world premiere for the famous composer, Nico Muhly at Bass Concert Hall in Austin, Texas. The ensemble consisted of the Grammy Award winning choir, Conspirare, the Dublin and Texas Guitar Quartets, and the Grammy Award winning L.A. Guitar Quartet.
“Nico Muhly is a very important composer and very important composers don’t write for the guitar very often,” Bustos said. “This combination of a choir and guitar ensemble had never been done before, so this was a really big moment for the guitar world.”
Although a renowned classical guitarist, Bustos admits to enjoying all different types of music, including the American alternative metal band Rage Against the Machine and the iconic 90s hip hop group, Cypress Hill.
“Some of that music really spoke to me,” Bustos said. “That sort of rawness in the music that grabs you and shakes you by the shirt is what I look for in classical music as well so it crosses over.”
If you would like to discover where when he will be performing, follow the link below to access Isaac Bustos’ performance schedule.