John Galvan, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, began playing the guitar at age 13. He has been a frequent performer in the Dallas/Fort Worth area on concert series presented by the Dallas Classic Guitar Society, Guitar Fort Worth, the Ice House Cultural Center and the Fort Worth Guitar Guild. With a strong interest in new music, Mr. Galvan has also appeared on the University of North Texas SPECTRUM series, the Eastfield College Guitar Festival Texas Composers' Concert and the University of Texas at Austin WET-INK and Electro-Acoustic Recital Series, premiering new works by regional composers. Additionally, he was also named a finalist at the 2003 Texas Guitar Competition held at the University of Texas at Dallas. Most recently, John appeared on the Fort Worth Guitar Guild's - "Mission Statement" CD, contributing his recording of the "Three Pieces for Guitar" by Carlos Chavez.
Mr. Galvan holds Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music degrees in performance from the University of North Texas and the University of Texas at Austin. His principal teachers include Adam Holzman, Tom Johnson, Oscar Valdez and Robert Guthrie. John has also received scholarships for study at the Stetson International Guitar Workshop in DeLand, Florida in 2001, 2004 and 2005. There, he performed in master-classes for artists including Oscar Ghiglia and Eliot Fisk, and was 1 of 18 guitarists selected from over 100 to perform at the 2004 Participants’ Concert. John has also received master-class instruction from many others including: Pepe Romero, David Russell, Roberto Aussel, Matteo Mela, Aniello Desiderio, Lorenzo Micheli, Jason Vieaux, Timo Korhonen and Eduardo Fernandez.
In addition to guitar study and performance activities, Mr. Galvan has served on the Board of Directors of the Austin Classical Guitar Society and the Fort Worth Guitar Guild. John is the classical guitar instructor at North Central Texas College and previously taught at Southern Methodist University (Meadows School of the Arts - Community Education). Mr. Galvan also teaches at Southlake Music Academy and his private home studio in Bedford, Texas.
“Clearly playing is second nature to him, and he has a real gift for the guitar; his playing is brilliant.â€
-Rebecca Lewis, Classical Editor, dallasmusic.com