With an unprecedented array of first prizes in major international competitions, Colombia-born Ricardo Cobo is recognised as one of the world’s leading virtuosi of the new classical guitar generation. He made his professional début with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá at the age of seventeen in a nationwide broadcast for an audience of over nine million. He made his astonishing début before American audiences as the first Hispanic ever to win consecutive medals at the Guitar Foundation of America Solo International Competition. Equally in demand as chamber musician, pedagogue and recording artist, Cobo’s busy touring schedule has taken him from New York’s Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall to Korea’s Ho Ham Hall, the Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles, Madrid’s Teatro Real, and Zaragoza’s Palacio Real, to Venezuela’s Teresa Carreño, and his native Colombia’s National Library, among hundreds of others. His versatility can be heard in his award-winning solo recordings of classical and children’s music, his orchestral and cross-over recordings, and in hundreds of credits for commercial releases worldwide. His diverse and innovative programming ranges from solo concerti with orchestra to historical chamber settings as well as tango and flamenco dance ensembles to Latin and world music concerts. His performance of the historic American première of Leo Brouwer’s Concerto de Toronto under the composer’s own baton with the San Antonio Symphony was highly acclaimed by the critical press. Ricardo Cobo has been decorated by his country on numerous occasions, receiving the Colombian Order of Cañasgordas and the Order of Belacazar for outstanding merit in cultural affairs. He now lives in Las Vegas.