HILARIO YANEZ

Guitarist

Hilario Yanez began learning to play the guitar at the age of ten at a local municipal Casa de Cultura (house of culture) in his small hometown of San Juan del Rio, Queretaro, Mexico. Hilario was fortunate to discover the world of classical guitar with his inspiring teacher Luis Herrera Baez. Within the first two years studing there as a young boy was able to master the works of Tarrega, Carulli, Bach, and other composers from Renaisence and Baroque periods. 

At seventeen the decision was clear; he would devote his life to his music. 

Eager, Hilario relocated to the nearby city of Queretaro in the same state, to get his Bachelor degree in music at the University Autonomous of Queretaro. He studied guitar with Alfredo Uribe and composition with Doctors Mauricio Beltran and Ignacio Baca-Lobera. His serious work in the classical music led him to teach harmony, counterpoint and guitar at the Conservatory of Music “J. Guadalupe Velazquez”. As he turned twenty, Hilario began to travel to the important guitar festivals throughout Mexico such as the Hispano-American Festival of Guitar in Tijuana, B.C. and the Guitar Festival of Paracho, where he toreceived important classes with international masters. That same year Hilario made his debut as a performing artist in the International and National Guitar Festival of Queretaro. 

In 2003 won the prize in the competition “Young Creators and Performers” sponsored by the Institute Queretano of  Culture & Arts, IQCA, playing the music of Queretano composers. That year Hilario was accepted to be mentored in Mexico City by Gonzalo Salazar, one of the best classical guitarists in all of Mexico, recognized internationally as well for his performances of contemporary guitar music.  The arduous travel between Queretaro and Mexico City for those three years was of little consequence compared to the resulting development in Hilario's musical abilities.  

Hilario in 2005 again handily won the prize in the IQCA competition of “Young Creators and Performers”. This time the assignment was to play two concerts for guitar and orchestra; the Elegiaco concerto of Leo Brouwer and the Concerto BWV 1042 of J. S. Bach for violin, strings orchestra and continum.

In the summer of 2008 having worked and performed the previous summer in Queretaro with a Canadian opera company, Hilario joined Canadian pianist Claudette Denys in Montreal becoming a member in good standing of the Conservatory of Music of Quebec. While there, he was able to develop his art and diversify his repertory under the tutelage of the famous Canadian virtuoso guitarist Remi Boucher.

A special thanks must be given not only to his many supporters who helped and encouraged him, but also to the Secretary of International Relations of Mexico, the Government of the Province of Quebec and the IQCA for the scholarship “Artistic Formation for students abroad 2010”. Hilario's undying commitment during the many years and thousands upon thousands of hours spent honing his given talent not only culminated in receiving his Honor's Master's Degree in Music, Interpretation and Classical Guitar, but also in May 2011 he was honored by being awarded the first prize unanimously by the judges in the Concours de Guitare au Conservatoire de Montréal. 

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Hilario's initial concert tour was so well received in France that it came as a pleasant surprize to the  organizers who subsequently invited Hilario back to France to perform additional concert tours since. He was praised by a number of highly-respected music critics in for "his talent and music which captivated the audiences". Hilario, who has performed in America and Europe, has been praised for the critics specialized in the environment musical. 

Remi Boucher, his professor at the Conservatory of Music of Quebec, cataloged him as a guitarist of impeccable technique and musicality; with very solid nerves to carry out any challenge.