Havana, Cuba-born virtuoso Joaquin Clerch is a globally-recognized artist, pedagogue and composer, distinguished by prestigious awards from his home country and abroad.
Clerch finished his studies at Havana's Instituto Superior de Arte in 1989, and would then attend the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria. There, he studied with Eliot Fisk, Anthony Spiri, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. In 1991, Clerch earned the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research's award for outstanding artistic achievement, and embarked on his global teaching career. He has taught since 1999 at the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Düsseldorf, Germany.
As a performer, Clerch has collaborated with internationally-renowned orchestras and won major guitar competitions including the Andres Segovia International Competition (Spain), International Guitar Competition Heitor Villalobos (Brazil), and the Printemps de la Guitare (Belgium). He has also nurtured a new generation of exceptional guitar students, many of whom are now major competition laureates themselves.
Alongside teaching and composing, Clerch maintains a robust performance schedule to this day.