Music Conservatory of Westchester • Faculty

James Lorusso has devoted most of his life to the guitar for the past 40 years, as a performer, teacher, arranger, and composer. He has taught at the Music Conservatory of Westchester since 1973, Manhattanville College since 1976, and Westchester Community College since 1993. He has also taught at Marymount College and the American Institute of Guitar. His love of Renaissance and Baroque music, arranging works from piano, harpsichord, and lute (for the guitar), and his studies with Narciso Yepes led him to play the 10-string guitar in 1978. He still performs on both the traditional 6-string as well as the 10-string guitar. His first formal classical guitar recital was in 1972, at Manhattanville College's Reid Hall, known as the Castle. After that first Manhattanville concert, Jim's performances gradually increased throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and Spain.

James Lorusso is a graduate of the Music Conservatory of Westchester, through its collaboration with Mercy College, where he was the recipient of a Conservatory scholarship as well as a scholarship from the Epstein Fine Arts Fund. He studied guitar with Leo Brouwer, Alirio Diaz, Angel Romero, Manuel Barrueco, and Alice Artzt, and musical interpretation with renowned pianist Bruce Hungerford. He has also studied in Spain with guitarists Narciso Yepes and Jose-Luis Lopategui. Mr. Lorusso was a prizewinner in the 1983 international guitar competition at the Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Puerto Rico, and made his New York debut at CAMI Hall in 1984. He is the president and founder of the Friends of Narciso Yepes. He was also featured in September 2008 edition of Classical Guitar magazine in the column "Letter From New York" by Julia Crowe, giving an account of his friendship with the late guitar maker, Thomas Humphrey.

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Conservatory faculty are all highly skilled and experienced teachers. Teachers are assigned to maximize the learning experience of each student taking into account the students musical interests and goals, age and scheduling needs.

"I am very happy and proud of Jun Luke Foster’s and Benjamin Boventer’s achievements. I taught Jun Luke for 12 years and his acceptance to Juilliard School of Music is a great sign of his musical maturity and accomplishment. He was also accepted to Harvard and Yale. Benjamin was with me for five years. He won a prestigious $40,000 scholarship from Skidmore College for music studies. He was the only pianist in that competition who received this award. He was also accepted at Tufts University. It is very satisfying to know that our students continue to achieve such success." —Svetlana Gorokovich, MCW Faculty

Conservatory faculty are all highly skilled and experienced teachers. Teachers are assigned to maximize the learning experience of each student taking into account the students musical interests and goals, age and scheduling needs.

"I am very happy and proud of Jun Luke Foster’s and Benjamin Boventer’s achievements. I taught
Jun Luke for 12 years and his acceptance to Juilliard School of Music is a great sign of his musical maturity and accomplishment. He was also accepted to Harvard and Yale. Benjamin was with me for five years. He won a prestigious $40,000 scholarship from Skidmore College for music studies. He was the only pianist in that competition who received this award. He was also accepted at Tufts University. It is very satisfying to know that our students continue to achieve such success."
—Svetlana Gorokovich, MCW Faculty

James Lorusso | Guitar

Music Conservatory of Westchester • 216 Central Avenue, White Plains, NY 10606
914.761.3900 • info@musiced.org

The Music Conservatory of Westchester is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

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