The Gil Guitérrez Trio Live in Concert at The Church

Join the Gil Guitérrez Trio at The Church on Friday, May 23, at 6 p.m. for an evening of blended musical revelry, spanning classical guitar and jazz, infused with Latin roots. Guiterrez, the internationally renowned guitarist and composer, will be accompanied by three-time Grammy Award-winner Oriente Lopez (piano and flute) and master of Latin and ballroom dance Mario Rodriguez (bass).

King of the nylon-string guitar and recognized as one of Mexico’s finest virtuosos for his unparalleled artistry in combining classical, jazz, flamenco and son Cubano, Guitérrez has a devoted following across Latin America, South America, and Spain. His impressive collaborations include those with music icons Doc Severinsen, Arturo Sandoval and Ana Gabriel, among others. Beyond performance, Guitérrez is an ambassador of culture and music. As founder of Zandunga: A Musical Haven in central Mexico, Guitérrez uses his power of collaboration to unite international musicians with diverse musical styles, creating a rich cultural experience for audiences from around the world.

Born in Oaxaca, Gutiérrez began performing classical guitar at age 14 in local restaurants. His talent caught the attention of German-born guitarist Wolfgang “Lobo” Fink of Willie & Lobo, and, at 17, Gutiérrez joined him to perform in San Miguel de Allende. After Fink returned to Germany, Gutiérrez moved to Mexico City to study jazz, supporting himself by playing guitar on city buses.

Over his career, Gutiérrez has wowed audiences throughout South America and Spain alongside Ana Gabriel, Ricardo Arjona, Francisco Céspedes, and Pedro Guerra. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Minnesota Symphony, Florida Symphony, and the Doc Severinsen Big Band Tour in the U.S. He was also a special guest soloist with Arturo Sandoval at Mexico City’s Palace of Fine Arts. In 2013, Gutiérrez was the featured artist at the Calaca Festival in San Miguel de Allende, leading an ensemble to honor the legacy of Costa Rican singer Chavela Vargas. In 2023, the annual San Miguel de Allende Jazz Festival highlighted Gil and his band, which included the American singer Veronica Swift, to open the two-week celebration in the city center’s main square, Le Jardin.

Gutiérrez has also composed and performed original works with the New York Choral Society and scored several films, including El Cochero (2004), El Alcázar de Chapultepec (2004), and Una Causa Noble (2006). He also wrote and performed the soundtrack for the documentary Lost and Found in Mexico (2007).

PBS “American Masters” recently featured Gutiérrez in its documentary “Never Too Late,” which chronicles the career of legendary trumpeter Doc Severinsen. For more than a decade, Gutiérrez served as the musical director for Severinsen’s band, the San Miguel Five. Following Severinsen’s tenure as the charismatic bandleader of NBC’s “Tonight Show With Johnny Carson,” he introduced Gutiérrez to American audiences through more than 100 concerts at prestigious venues, including the Kennedy Center, the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., Millennium Park in Chicago, and Carnegie Hall, where Severinsen and Gutiérrez performed with the New York Pops under the direction of conductor Steven Reineke. They released their first album, En Mi Corazón, in 2007.

Born and raised in Havana, Oriente Lopez launched his career in the 1970s as a composer, arranger, flutist and pianist. A graduate of Cuba’s National School of Arts, he moved to New York in 1993, earning an masters of fine arts from New York University. Lopez has composed for film, television, and theater and works in classical music as well as Latin jazz. His collaborators include Paul Simon, Celia Cruz, Chico Buarque, Paquito D’Rivera, Charlie Haden, Silvio Rodríguez and Chucho Valdés.

Renowned for his mastery of Latin and ballroom-dance music, Mario Rodriguez has led bands at some of the country’s top venues, including a three-year residency at the Rainbow Room in Manhattan and performances at Roseland Ballroom, the Blue Note, and Alice Tully Hall. Rodriguez has played with legends like Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Juan Luis Guerra, and Gato Barbieri, and collaborated with Nestor Torres, Al Di Meola, Liza Minnelli and Lillias White. His recording credits include Alicia Keys’s “Rear View Mirror,” music for PBS’s “Sesame Street” and the ABC soap opera “One Life To Live,” and tracks in films such as the Oscar-nominated “Eat Drink Man Woman” and the critically acclaimed documentary “Calle 54.”

Tickets for the performance are $25 ($20 members) at thechurchsagharbor.org. The Church is at 48 Madison Street in Sag Harbor.