About me
Many students, friends and whoever is approaching the flamenco world ask me: “What’s flamenco?”. The answer is pretty straightforward, flamenco is like a language and if you don’t understand it, you will never be able to speak it.
I was born in Madrid, Spain and I began my study of Flamenco guitar when I was 15 years old with Ricardo Modrego. Later on, I launched my professional career while further exploring Flamenco and its roots at the Complutense University of Madrid, while studying Arabic Culture and Literature. I passionately adhered to Flamenco with its lifestyle of music, dance, and soul since more than 20 years.
I specialized in dance and singing accompaniment since 2001, training at the Madrid Conservatory and Fundación Casa Patas. I was mentored by many great guitarists such as Paco Cortés, Pedro Sierra, Jose Luis Postigo, and Niño de Pura in the Flamenco Institutes of “Amor de Dios” (Madrid) and the Cristina Heeren Foundation of Flamenco Arts (Seville). During this time he also performed at prestigious Flamenco Tablaos and venues (Peña Torres Macarena), including with the renowned dancer Milagros Mengibar (Palacio de Los Congresos, Seville).
After performing for many years in prominent Flamenco Festivals and concert events throughout Southern Spain, I decided to embark on an International performance career in 2008. In 2010 I performed in London, England at important flamenco and jazz venues like “ Ronnie Scott´s.”
A year later, in 2011 I was invited to perform and collaborate with the great musician and sitar player Anoushka Shankar on her tour “Traveller”, touring in Germany and Spain and working alongside Pepe Habichuela. Pedro Ricardo Miño, Sandra Carrasco, and Ramón Porrina. In the same year, together with The Spanish Embassy, I conducted a personal fusion project, “Flamenco Shaabi,” which reached International attention in many different cities of Egypt. I also began to tour extensively working with various International Flamenco dance companies in Europe, Africa, and Canada.
I spent some time-based in Turkey where I began studying traditional Turkish music in Istanbul. There I co-initiated a musical project and collective, “Kaknüs Ensemble,” a large and diverse music ensemble based on the roots of Ottoman and Sufí music. I also collaborated regularly with the Cervantes Institute in many aspects, including as being a professor of Flamenco guitar.
In 2014 I worked in Canada as musical director of “The Cave”, a Canadian production with the dancer Fiona Malena, where I got the opportunity to present their work at the Montreal Flamenco Festival and Calgary Flamenco Festival. I also participated as a lecturer at the University of Mont-Royal, Calgary.
In October 2014 I decided it was time to come back to Madrid. During this period I started my journey as an online flamenco guitar teacher while working on different musical projects and tablaos in the Spanish capital. I toured all over Spain working on different festivals and worked as a principal rhythm guitarist in Eduardo Serrano’s (El GUITO) courses. I also worked as a rhythm guitarist in “tablao Casa Patas” as well as in “Arco de Cuchilleros” tablao providing different workshops and courses for foreign students through the “Fundacion flamenco Casa Patas”.
During the Summer of 2017, I conducted flamenco guitar workshops in Istanbul (Turkey) and in Tehran (Iran). Currently, in Madrid, I continue a project with my group “Alvaro Antona flamenco ensemble” and develop various courses and workshops, both physically and online.