JOSEPH MAYES
Joseph Mayes was self-taught until 1963 when he began his studies with Mr. Peter Colona at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia. In 1968, after three years in the army, Mr. Mayes was given an invitational scholarship by the government of Spain to study with the internationally renowned concert guitarist Andres Segovia at the "Musica en Compostela" festival in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Since that master class, he has studied with such notable teachers as Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Glenn Caluda, Jose Tomas, and Oscar Ghiglia. Mayes holds degrees in guitar from Thomas Edison College of Trenton New Jersey, and Shenandoah University of Winchester, Virginia. Since 1972, Mr. Mayes has been on the faculty of Rowan University where he teaches guitar, lute, vihuela, and mandolin. His arrangements and transcriptions for guitar, guitar ensemble, and guitar with other instruments have been published by Galvanized Music, Plucked String, Inc. and Mel Bay Publications, Inc. His recordings span the complete range of the enormous repertoire for the guitar and lute. His latest CD is a collection of salon music entitled "Parlor Gems", performed on recreations of authentic 19th Century guitars. Mayes made his London debut at Wigmore Hall in January of 1981, and later that year his New York debut at the Carnegie Recital Hall. He has appeared on television and radio and his concertizing has taken him throughout Europe and to more than half of the fifty states.