Meet
Lorena Garay
Who I am
Classical, Spanish & Latin Guitarist
Lorena Garay is a multi-award-winning Puerto Rican guitarist who plays a wide range of guitar styles, including classical, Spanish, Latin, and Latin jazz.
Lorena's guitar arrangements and passionate playing style beautifully combine her classical guitar technique with her fiery Spanish guitar strumming with lots of percussive sounds.
Biography
Lorena Garay is a multi-award-winning Puerto Rican guitarist who plays a wide range of guitar styles, including classical, Spanish, Latin, and Latin jazz. Lorena's guitar arrangements and passionate playing style beautifully blend her classical guitar technique with her fiery Spanish guitar strumming. She performs regularly as a soloist and bandleader of her award-winning ensemble, Surcari.
Lorena earned her Master of Music Summa Cum Laude from the Hartt School at the University of Hartford, where she received the Guitar Department Award. She holds a Bachelor of Music Summa Cum Laude from the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, from which she received the Gold Medal from the String Department. She also received a Music Diploma with Highest Honors from La Escuela de Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts) in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Lorena has received many awards, including the Hartt School’s Guitar Department Award, the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico’s String Department Gold Medal Award, and the Identidad Latina's Gold Latin Music Award. In addition, Surcari received the Arts For Learning Connecticut's 2018 Performing Artist of the Year Award.
She has released two albums: La Guitarra de Puerto Rico, a featured album of a Greater Hartford Arts Council's United Arts Gift Giving Campaign; and Surcari, which won third place for Best South and Central American Album at the 2009 Just Plain Folks Independent Music Awards. In addition, Lorena composed, recorded and produced 30 two-minute songs commissioned by the sports television network ESPN.
Lorena has performed at numerous prestigious venues, including Princeton University, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Bushnell Performing Arts Center, and Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, among many others. At the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Pennsylvania, Lorena was the opening act for renowned guitar duo Strunz and Farah.
She has traveled all along the U.S. east coast and Puerto Rico performing with various musical groups, including her band, Surcari, José González's Criollo Clásico, The Daniel Salazar Ensemble, and Viva Quetzal. Lorena has also performed with various Puerto Rican artists, such as folk singer Roy Brown, rock singer Tito Auger, and late concert guitarist Federico Cordero. She has made many television appearances, including "El Show de Analeh," Univision; "Salu2 Nueva Inglaterra," Telemundo; "Presencia" & "Making It Here," Public Television for Western New England (a PBS affiliate); and "All Things Connecticut," Connecticut Public Television.
Lorena earned her Master of Music Summa Cum Laude from the Hartt School at the University of Hartford, where she received the Guitar Department Award. She holds a Bachelor of Music Summa Cum Laude from the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, from which she received the Gold Medal from the String Department. She also received a Music Diploma with Highest Honors from La Escuela de Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts) in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Lorena has received many awards, including the Hartt School’s Guitar Department Award, the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico’s String Department Gold Medal Award, and the Identidad Latina's Gold Latin Music Award. In addition, Surcari received the Arts For Learning Connecticut's 2018 Performing Artist of the Year Award.
She has released two albums: La Guitarra de Puerto Rico, a featured album of a Greater Hartford Arts Council's United Arts Gift Giving Campaign; and Surcari, which won third place for Best South and Central American Album at the 2009 Just Plain Folks Independent Music Awards. In addition, Lorena composed, recorded and produced 30 two-minute songs commissioned by the sports television network ESPN.
Lorena has performed at numerous prestigious venues, including Princeton University, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Bushnell Performing Arts Center, and Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, among many others. At the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Pennsylvania, Lorena was the opening act for renowned guitar duo Strunz and Farah.
She has traveled all along the U.S. east coast and Puerto Rico performing with various musical groups, including her band, Surcari, José González's Criollo Clásico, The Daniel Salazar Ensemble, and Viva Quetzal. Lorena has also performed with various Puerto Rican artists, such as folk singer Roy Brown, rock singer Tito Auger, and late concert guitarist Federico Cordero. She has made many television appearances, including "El Show de Analeh," Univision; "Salu2 Nueva Inglaterra," Telemundo; "Presencia" & "Making It Here," Public Television for Western New England (a PBS affiliate); and "All Things Connecticut," Connecticut Public Television.
Education
- Master of Music degree Summa Cum Laude, The Hartt School at the University of Hartford (Guitar Department Award Recipient)
- Bachelor of Music degree Summa Cum Laude, Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico (String Department Gold Medal Award Recipient)
- Music Diploma with Highest Honors, La Escuela de Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts), Carolina, Puerto Rico
Training
- Classical guitar with Richard Provost, Leonardo Egúrbida and Héctor Hance
- Flamenco guitar with José R. Ramos and Carlos Revollar
- Jazz guitar with Paul Shumsky and Rich Goldstein
- Cuban tres guitar with Nelson González
- Andean and South American instruments with Eugenio Huanca
- Electric bass with Rudi Weeks
Selected Recordings
- Latin Big Beat Sounds, commissioned by the international TV Sports Network ESPN
- Latin Ska Sounds, commissioned by the international TV Sports Network ESPN
- Surcari, 3rd Place Music Award for Best South & Central American Album, Just Plain Folks Independent Music Awards
- La Guitarra de Puerto Rico, a featured album of the Greater Hartford Arts Council's United Arts Gift Giving Campaign
- New England Landscapes, a compilation album produced by the Connecticut Guitar Society
- The Gift of the Guitar, a compilation album produced by the Connecticut Guitar Society
Honors & Awards
- Performing Artist of The Year Award, Arts For Learning Connecticut
- Latino de Oro Music Award, Identidad Latina Hispanic Newspaper, Hartford, CT
- Third Place Music Award, Best South & Central American Album for Surcari, Just Plain Folks Music Awards
- Guitar Department Award, The Hartt School, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT
- String Department Gold Medal Award, Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR
- Grant Recipient, New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA)
- Grant Recipient, Hartford Business Development Grants for Artist Program, Hartford, CT
- Grant Recipient, The Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation, Springfield, MA
- Grant Recipient, Greater Hartford Arts Council, Hartford, CT
- Plaque Recognition, CT Association of Affirmative Action Scholarship Fund
- Medal for Excellence in Musical Performance, Connecticut National Guard
- Merit Tuition Scholarship Recipient, Connecticut School of Broadcasting, Farmington Campus
- Merit Tuition Scholarship & Teaching Fellowship Recipient, The Hartt School, University of Hartford
- Scholarship Award Recipient, Robert I. Ferdman, Pro Arte Musical, San Juan, PR
- Scholarship Award Recipient, Corporación de las Artes Musicales, San Juan, PR
- Pi Kappa Lambda, National Music Honor Society
- National Dean's List, Biography Published in Various Annual Editions
What critics say
"Garay's talents lay in her ability to produce a melodic, subdued listening experience throughout."
World Discoveries
“Lorena Garay is talented, enchantingly beautiful and widely regarded for her professional versatility and grace.”
Connecticut Guitar Society
“Classical music and Latino rhythms form a perfect partnership when played by Lorena Garay, of Hartford.”
Hartford Courant
“Clapton may make guitars weep; Garay makes hers sing, shout, and dance."