Marco Tamayo, the Cuban guitarist with Austrian citizenship, acclaimed as “Il Re della Chitarra” (the king of the guitar), has preserved his international reputation in all fields of classical guitar. Marco Tamayo, the new Professor of classical guitar at the Universität der Künste Berlin (UDK), is a winner of major international competitions with about 25 awards, including the International Guitar Competition Michele Pittaluga-Cita di Alessandria / Italy, International Guitar Competition Andrés Segovia / Spain, Vienna-Rust, Nikita Koshkin International Guitar Competition / Austria, Leo Brouwer International Guitar Competition in Havana / Cuba, among others. Marco Tamayo is an active soloist, a regular member of chamber music ensembles, and a frequent performer of concertos for solo guitar and orchestra.

His repertory includes all different styles and is considerably large. As a president of Jury panels and organizer of guitar festivals, Marco Tamayo has gained experience from an early age. Lately, his interest in composition has led him to create new literature for the instrument. Marco Tamayo started playing guitar at the early age of three, and he was hailed as a child prodigy from the age of six. His first international tour occurred in Europe when the young guitarist was ten.

His pedagogical experience includes a Professorship at Sidney University /Australia, GMPU / Austria, Mozarteum University of Arts-Salzburg /Austria, Academy of arts Gdanks /Poland, and recently he was awarded the Professorship at the UDK Berlin out of more than 400 guitarists. His class is joined by guitarists from all around the globe. Tamayo’s book "Essential Principles for the interpretation of the Classical Guitar" changed the approach to classical guitar teaching worldwide.

He is the Artistic Director of the "Michele Pittaluga Int. Guitar contest" (since 1999, the year in which he won the competition) and director and founder of the "Klagenfurt Int. Competition and Festival" in Austria. He is also an Honorary Citizen of the City of Solero and Alessandria, both in Italy. Marco Tamayo is currently performing on a guitar built by luthier Stephen Connor from the United States of America. Marco Tamayo is a Savarez Artist and uses Cantiga Premium – Alliance / Blue strings. Tamayo is the Chairman of Marco Tamayo Edition, a publishing house created in 2014.