Meet Alex Park | Classical Guitarist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex Park and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Because I couldn’t imagine doing anything else! I knew I wanted to become a professional musician when I was a teenager and even then I knew it would be extremely difficult to pursue that. Because of how difficult it is to make a living as a musician, I figured I would be happy if I had a normal job during the day and play music at night. But I’m incredibly grateful that I have the ability to pursue music full time, whether it’s performing, recording, teaching, or anything music related. I say all of this to show that even if I wasn’t able to make a living from music, I would do it anyways!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a classical guitarist and most of what I do is perform concerts, record, and teach. My performance career started when I was a student at Pepperdine University which I mentioned earlier. While I was studying there, I realized how much I enjoyed performing and I made it a goal of mine to become a concert guitarist. Besides the performances and recitals I gave on campus, I took the extra effort to find performances outside of campus which initially was tough to do since I was just starting out. Now I’m thankful to have performed concerts all around the United States, Canada, and Europe. In fact, I’m currently talking to you from the airport in Seattle at the moment since I played a concert in Kennewick, WA yesterday. In addition, this year I was a featured soloist for two orchestra concerts, one with the Culver City Symphony Orchestra where I played the Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra by the film composer Elmer Bernstein. And last month I played the famous Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo with the Westlake Village Symphony.

As a recording artist, I have recorded for myself and for other artists. In 2019, I released my first album, Classical Guitar, which features a variety of classical guitar music spanning from the 16th to the 20th century. It is available to listen to on all the major streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, etc. I have also recorded guitar for other artists and composers, mostly for film and media projects. I am happy to have been a part of award winning films, most notably I played guitar for a PBS documentary that won an Emmy Award for best music.

Another big passion of mine is teaching. I have been teaching music lessons since I was in high school and now I have a private studio of guitar, piano, and violin students in Diamond Bar, CA. I am also on the faculty of the classical guitar department at Pepperdine University which is ranked #1 in “The Ten Very Best Colleges for Classical Guitar Performance” by Music School Central.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Los Angeles and two areas that I tend to show people around is Downtown LA and the beach (usually Santa Monica or Venice since I grew up in West LA). For Downtown LA, there’s one block where the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Broad Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Arts is located so I like to take friends to one of those places. For places to eat, LA is full of diversity and many great places to eat. The areas that I tend to bring people the most is either Koreatown and Little Tokyo. There are many great asian restaurants there and I noticed everyone enjoys being there.

Going to the beach is special too, especially if the visitor is coming from an area where there is no beach. Some of my friends have also asked me to visit Hollywood so I’ll give them a driving tour through there.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are people I’d love to shoutout. First I would like to acknowledge my family for their encouragement and support for my career in music. It’s a tough field to pursue so I am thankful to know that they have my back. I also have to shoutout my teachers who have taught me everything I know. The ones I would like to recognize are the ones who are lifelong mentors to me. One of them is Christopher Parkening who is one of of the world’s preeminent virtuosos of the classical guitar. I studied with him when I was a student at Pepperdine University and he guided me on how to become a great classical guitar performer just like he was, so I thank him for helping me start my performance career. Another mentor I have to acknowledge is my current teacher Brian Head. I’m currently pursuing my Doctorate in music at the University of Southern California and he has helped me get to the next step in my artistry and career. It truly takes a village and I express my gratitude to everyone who has helped me.

Website: https://www.alexparkguitar.com

Instagram: @alexparkguitar

Twitter: @alexparkguitar

Facebook: @alexparkguitar

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@parkalex100

Image Credits
Odam Studio (South Korea), Olivia Koo, Ron Hall