Biography

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Carlos Gass was born in Valencia in 1958. He studied guitar at the Joaquín Rodrigo Higher Conservatory of Music. He later specialized in the performance of Renaissance, Baroque, and Romantic instruments such as the vihuela, the Baroque lute, and the Romantic guitar, among others. He was a disciple of maestro José Luis González, with whom he broadened his guitar studies.

He has received instruction from renowned performers such as H. Smith, P. O’Dette, M. Barberá, R. Aussel, and A. Carlevaro, among others, as well as at the summer courses of the Chigiana Music Academy in Siena.

He has taken part in various music festivals, including the 1st Early Music Series of Gandía (1990); Five Centuries of Music on the Guitar (Intermusic 1992); the International Festival of the Camino de Santiago (1992, 1995); Ciclo Canción Barroca (Madrid, Juan March Foundation, 1992); the Midday Concerts of the same Foundation (2000); the series Un pulso a la Cuerda (Valencia, Palau de la Música, 1994); and the 4th Early and Baroque Music Series (Auditorio de Vila-real, Castellón, 2000).

He was a founding member of the chamber music trio Carmina Instrumentis, with which he gave numerous concerts, particularly programs focused on the music in Cervantes and Don Quixote.

He has collaborated on many musical and cultural events, such as the closing of the Academic Marathon for Japan at the Historical Library of the Complutense University of Madrid in 2011; with the Generalitat Valenciana, including his recital Sobre l’amor y la mort, based on the work of Ausiàs March at the Valencian Centre of Mediterranean Culture (1997); and as a guest artist at the closing of the Raíces Ibéricas Festival at Quinta Santo António de Pombal, Fafe, Portugal, in 2001, among others.

He has offered numerous vihuela recitals as a soloist, collaborating with the Instituto Cervantes in Greece (1999); in Lebanon at the American University of Beirut; and with the Institución Libre de Enseñanza in Madrid (2007), during the tribute to the philosopher Agustín Andreu.

As a Renaissance lute soloist, he has performed at the Lessing House Museum in Wolfenbüttel (Germany). He is also a Baroque lute soloist, with several monographic concerts dedicated to S. L. Weiss—including one held in La Laguna (Tenerife, 1999). He has also recorded music based on Cervantine texts for the BBC production Quixot Tales (1995).

Parallel to his musical work, he is also a builder of Renaissance, Baroque, and Romantic instruments. In 1988 he received the “Young Enterprise” Award from the City Council of Valencia for his project The Lute, an Instrument for an Era, a prize aimed at innovative business initiatives. In 1994 he presented an exhibition of his instruments at the Palau de la Música in Valencia. In 1995 he held another exhibition at the Casa de l’Oli in Vila-real (Castellón), and in 1997 he participated in the Intermusic musical instrument fair (Valencia).

In recent years, he has focused primarily on research and instrument making, and today many performers play instruments crafted in his workshop.