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Ricardo García-Curbelo  is one of the finest  composer/performers of today’s Latin American harp music.

He studied the harp at the Music Academy of Villavicencio, with Luis Alberto Curvelo, his brother and Director of the institution. Ricardo later became Director of Dance for 3 years at this academy. He studied music theory  at the Music Academy Luis A. Calbo and attended voice production classes with maestro Manuel Zapata at the National University in Bogotá. Ricardo specializes in Joropo, a music that combines poetry, with Classical, Flamenco and Jazz music. He plays the Modelo Corvado 42 string harp and the cuatro, a four strings guitar from Colombia and Venezuela. Ricardo is a unique and dedicated artist, known and loved for his passionate, gifted way of communicating with the public. His reserved personality illustrates the characteristics of the real Llanero who knows well the roots and  values of his culture.

As a young artist Ricardo shared big concert performances with other talented artists, on stages such as La Media Torta (Bogotá). He toured extensively throughout Colombia and Venezuela, after being selected by Polimeros Colombianos as one of the National leading representatives of the Llanos as a poet and a dancer. He has also toured to Brazil, Mexico and North Africa. The special talent that Ricardo showed early as an artist on stage before the maestro representatives of Llanero music (Joropo), led him to be the youngest dancer and composer/poet/performer to be awarded International first prizes on several occasions. He is a winner of six international competitions in his home land, three as poet/composer/performer and three as a dancer. His restless desire to contribute and to open new horizons for his culture, led him to construct a new Latin American harp, and with this instrument, the development and presentation of a unique new wave of poetic music. In 1990 he introduced on British Television his first version of this instrument, and in January 2000 he completed and gave his first concert in London with his new design, the Modelo Corvado.To date  his work exceeds three hundred compositions of music and poetry, two (unpublished) books, and a bilingual play, EL GRAN BRINDIS, ‘The Great Toast’, (1990).

As a poet, Ricardo is artistically known as El Cóndor. He is one of the Colombia’s leading poet performers. Several of his poems have been recorded by other artists. His most well-known titles include: COLOMBIA PARA TI, LA VERDAD DESNUDA, EL QUE MANDA ES EL BILLETE,  FOLKLORE, LADRON ES EL QUE ES PENDEJO, LA VERDAD DESCUBIERTA , CARTA A MI PUEBLO and EL IRRACIONAL.                   

Ricardo has lived in England since 1979. He married Sharon Elizabeth Peters. They had met previously in Colombia and lived together in Bogotá. It was to Sharon that he wrote one of today's most loved poems of his country, Colombia Para Ti. From their marriage they have a son, Alexander. Alex have recently finished studies at Leeds University. 

Ricardo continued studies of voice production and music composition at the City Literary Institute in London. He studied also English as a Second Language and Spanish Literature at the Polytechnic of Central London.

        Ricardo formed the group MATIZ in 1987. He has given performances in a wide range of halls, theatres and educational institutions and has represented Latin America both as soloist, and as leader of MATIZ  throughout the UK in different musical events, such as the Edinburgh International Festival, Cardiff World Harp Festival, Pontardawe Festival and Music for Clarinbridge (Ireland). 

His originality, enhanced by the impressive sound response of his unique Modelo Corvado harp keeps taking audiences by surprise.

Many compliments have been written  about his performances:

A night of powerful, breathtaking and simply spectacular music from this master player of the Latin American harp

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