Juan and Ivan – Guitar Duo
Artist Profile
Juan de Marias
Juan Carreras (aka ‘Juan de Marias’) was born in Barcelona, Spain where he started his musical studies as a classical guitarist in 1969, and years later began the study of flamenco guitar with several teachers including Andres Batista in Madrid, Niño de las Cuevas, Antonio Francisco and Luis Verdu in Barcelona, Emilio Maya and Miguel Angel Cortes in Granada.
In August of 2002 he was awarded a Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to study in Spain with Manuel Lozano “El Carbonero” in Jerez and Escuela 7 Hermanos in Barcelona.
He has also studied cante (singing) in Seville with Esperanza Fernandez and Jesus Corbacho.
Juan has worked as both soloist and accompanist for numerous singers and dancers.
Musical director, founding member and principal guitarist of the flamenco troupe Flamenko’s formerly known as ‘Elias Vargas and Company’, arranged the production ‘Gypsy Soul’, which has been presented for two years in many locations in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Juan has performed in Spain, England, Chile, United States and Canada. He is a regular performer at the flamenco circles in Vancouver as a soloist and with his troupe ‘Mimbre Flamenco’. In December of 2004 released his first album “Mimbre” featuring his compositions and arrangements of several popular flamenco styles.
In addition to working with Ivan Dimitrov, Juan is constantly looking for new forms of expression with other music influences such as the recent work in collaboration with opera singer Diana Díaz, violinist Roxana Avalos-Calderón and Indian sarode virtuoso Anupam Shobhakar.
His work has been also choreographed and presented at the prestigious Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Spain.
Ivan Dimitrov
Ivan is a professional guitarist based in Vancouver. He graduated from the Academy of Musical Dance and Arts in Bulgaria and has been performing ever since. He studied jazz and improvisation with the best teachers and performers in the country and later taught music and performed in Bulgaria and South Africa.
Mr. Dimitrov became interested in Latin American and Spanish music, Flamenco in particular, about 20 years ago and has never stopped developing and experimenting with this kind of music. He participated in the master classes of Gerardo Nunes and Oscar Herrero. As a result, he has an extensive and versatile Latin-American and Spanish repertoire. His passion for Spanish music led to his collaboration with the many flamenco dance companies and musicians in South Africa and canada. Mr. Dimitrov also provided the musical accompaniment to various Spanish theatre plays, the latest of which was Yerma by Fr. Garcia Lorca played at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre in 2006.
As a versatile performer who plays not only Flamenco, but also light classical and jazz music, Ivan collaborated with numerous leading musicians playing different styles of music ranging from Baroque to modern jazz. Ivan has given a series of concerts, both solo and in various formations – trio Flamenco guitars, duo classical guitars, Johannesburg Baroque ensemble, guitar and flute, guitar and violin – playing a range of different repertoires.
Ivan and Juan started collaborating a couple of months ago. It did not take them long to find out they are equally passionate about their art.
The duo is available for corporate events, concerts and private parties.
For information please contact:
Juan & Ivan Guitar Duo
rovaivan@yahoo.ca
www.juandemarias.com
Juan 778-828-9303
Ivan 604-540-4880
