BIOGRAPHY
Ryoji Yamaguchi, guitar
Guitarist Ryoji Yamaguchi is active as a versatile performer, arranger, and composer in classical, cross-over, and other styles of music. Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1981, he has lived in several countries since childhood, such as Greece, Mexico, Japan, El Salvador, and the United States. He began playing violin at age five and switched to guitar at age 16. Ryoji holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Classical Guitar Performance from the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where he studied with Dr. Rene Gonzalez. Current and past groups/projects include Ensemble Otodama, duo with bandoneon player Yukie Kawanami, Susana Behar Sephardic Music Ensemble, duo with fiddle player Kana Otake, Inca Spirit, and many others. His group Ensemble Otodama has performed in Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival among ABBA and Earth, Wind, and Fire (Montego Bay, Jamaica), Hatsume Festival (Florida, U.S.A), and has performed with legendary reggae artists Kiddus I and Earl Chinna Smith (Bob Marley and the Wailers). He has also worked with KIJI, Harmonic Motion, Junko Ohtsu, accordionist coba (from Bjork`s band), and many others. In February of 2004, he won the second prize at the first Miami International Guitar Competition. His group Caña also won a prize at a competition held by the Hard Rock Café in Miami the same year. As an instructor, he was on faculty at the SoBe Music Institute in Miami Beach. He has recorded for 7 CDs in the past, and his new CD with Yukie Kawanami, Mas Alla del Tango will be released in April 2011.
Port Antonio, Jamaica with Earl Chinna Smith (from Bob Marley and the Wailers, Soul Syndicate, etc)
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