In Memory of Dr. Enric Madriguera,
Co-founder of the Texas Guitar Competition and Festival

The Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology at The University of Texas at Dallas mourns the loss of Dr. Enric Madriguera, MA’84, PhD’93 in April of 2024.

Dr. Madriguera – a master instructor and performer of the classical guitar, director of the UT Dallas guitar studies program, and two-time Comet – served UT Dallas for 45 consecutive years, starting in September 1979.

In October 2009, Dr. Madriguera became the first holder of the Russell Cleveland Professor in Guitar Studies, an endowment gifted by Russell Cleveland, internationally-known collector of classical and acoustic guitars, member of the Bass School’s Dean’s Advisory Council, and of the UT Dallas Guitar Advisory Council.

Few have witnessed a passion for classical guitar like Dr. Madriguera.

Dr. Madriguera was the co-founder, with Dr. Kathryn Evans, of the Texas Guitar Competition and Festival, a yearly UT Dallas tradition established in 2001.

Besides his roles at UT Dallas, he served as director of The Collegiate Competition and Festival at Eastfield College, which focuses on high school and undergraduate students. He is a past advisory chair for the Dallas Classic Guitar Society and a past advisory member to the Allegro Guitar Society.

“My goal is to establish an essential center for the study, performance, and research of classical guitar culture,” Dr. Madriguera stated most recently. “Thus, I bring my best efforts to academic and professional artistic pursuits to establish a legacy in guitar for the UTD community.”

Every year, Dr. Madriguera participated in festivals and performances in the Americas, Europe, and around the world.

Most recently, he directed a guitar orchestra at the Litiga Festival in Northern Europe, composed of seventeen college-age and adult players from a variety of countries of Asia, America, and Europe in July 2023. Dr. Madriguera participated as an online judge in The Hong Kong International Music Festival in August of 2023. In November of 2023, he performed two concerts, one lecture, and two master classes for the Cuenca-Riobamba Festival of Ecuador.

In the Fall of 2009, Dr. Madriguera taught at the Escuela de Artes in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico, as a guest professor on a Fulbright Scholarship. And in 2001, he toured Vietnam and taught in the country’s music conservatories.

Dr. Madriguera earned a master’s degree in humanities in 1984 and a PhD in humanities in 1993, both from UT Dallas. A native of Connecticut, he received his early music education on the classical guitar in New York City. Before joining UT Dallas as an MA student, Dr. Madriguera studied in Madrid at the Royal Conservatory, and in Alicante, Spain.