Steven Lerman

Steven Lerman is an award-winning classical guitarist from San Diego, California. Steven has established himself as one of the top American virtuosos of his generation. In just a few years of competing, Steven has already won prizes in 25 internationally competitive guitar competitions – including 10 first prizes. In 2018, Steven won the 29th Annual Frances Walton Competition in Seattle, a competition open to all classical instruments; it is an extraordinary achievement for a guitarist to win an open instrumental competition. As part of first prize, he performed live on King FM Seattle, and gave over 30 concerts and school visits across Washington State. Since being selected as a performer for the Promising Artists of the 21st Century Tour in 2014, Steven has taught, performed, and made radio appearances across the U.S., and in Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, and France. In 2019, Steven was featured on a CD with the two time Grammy award nominated choir True Concord. The CD reached top 10 on the Billboard and ITunes classical charts.

Steven completed his doctor of music degree in 2019. His doctoral research centered on the Baroque Spanish keyboard composer Manuel Blasco de Nebra and the influence of the guitar on his style. Steven also wrote the first guitar transcriptions and gave the premiere performance of six of de Nebra’s sonatas to conclude his degree. Steven spent 7 years as a graduate teaching assistant between Florida State University and the University of Arizona. He is currently a guitar professor at Pima College in Arizona. With nearly two-dozen guitar majors, this program is one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. In addition to teaching at the collegiate level, Steven also teaches music through a University of Arizona run outreach program, teaching a classical guitar curriculum to sixteen underserved public schools across Arizona in the last five years.