He was a classical guitarist and teacher born in Lorca, Spain who began to study music after his father gave him a guitar when he was four years old and he received his first lessons from a local guitarist.
His family moved to Valencia after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and when he was thirteen he was accepted into the Conservatorio de Valencia to study with the composer Vicente Asencio.
He achieved acclaim for his performance of Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez in 1947 and in 1952 he arranged “Romance”, which was a traditional song that he would perform on the music score for the film Forbidden Games, along with a work by Robert de Visee and a Catalan folk song.
Collaborating with Jose Ramirez, an acclaimed guitar maker, he created the 10-string guitar which was the first guitar to have string resonators and it also gave him the ability to transcribe works for lute from the Baroque period.
He gave his last concert in March 1996 and died aged 69 in Murcia , Spain , in 1997.
Isaac Albeniz recordings
Asturias (Leyenda)
Deutsche Grammaphon DG B000400-02
Guitar – Narciso Yepes
Asturias (Leyenda)
Deutsche Grammaphon DG 289 476 7152
Guitar – Narciso Yepes
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