Alberto Puerto during concert at Dorn Building (Photo Courtesy of Jose Angel Castro)
Guitarist, composer and arranger Alberto Puerto was born in Havana. It was there, he says, that he was drawn to what the guitar could become. He moved to Miami in 2017 and said the Magic City “became both a stage and a laboratory for what the guitar could become.” miamiartzine.com spoke to Puerto about his work and his development of a methodology, which has made him one of the foremost instructors of guitar. He is currently working on an album "Visa for a Director Object,” a compilation that reimagines iconic Latin American songs with a fresh twist, blending Miami diaspora influences for a deep dive into the city's cultural conversations. He founded his music school, Alberto Puerto Music, to continue to pass on the craft and the methodology he developed. He also hosts Master His artistic medium: Classical guitar, composition, and intermedia collaboration
miamiartzine.com: How would you describe what you do?
Alberto Puerto: I am a guitarist and composer intent on expanding the role of the classical guitar in the twenty-first century. My work lives at the intersection of tradition and experiment: adapting popular songs to classical forms, integrating jazz and Latin American colors, and creating chamber-like settings that are at once intimate and expansive. At its heart, my practice is about creating spaces where the guitar is both familiar and surprising, accessible without losing its rigor.
Alberto and Kuyayky live at the Dorn Building. (Photo Courtesy of Odette Photo Art)
maz: How did you get started?
AP: I began in Havana, immersed in a culture where the guitar is never far from daily life. Early on, I was drawn not just to repertoire, but to the instrument's capacity for dialogue, with voice, with percussion, with other instruments, and with disciplines beyond music. When I arrived in Miami in 2017, I found an environment that invited me to keep stretching those dialogues. This city became both a stage and a laboratory for what the guitar could become.
maz: Who or what are your influences?
AP: My influences range widely: the lyricism of Latin American composers, the structural precision of classical masters, and the rhythmic vitality of indigenous Andean and Afro-Cuban traditions. I have also drawn energy from collaborations with local Miami artists, vocalists, percussionists, visual artists, who remind me that the guitar is never static, always absorbing the pulse around it
Alberto Puerto. (Photo Courtesy of Odette Photo Art)
miamiartzine.com: What inspires your work?
Alberto Puerto: The guitar inspires me precisely because it is both fragile and resilient. A single plucked string can suggest intimacy, yet the instrument can also command a room. I am inspired by its contradictions, and by the possibility of reshaping the context in which audiences encounter it. A salon, a gallery, a neighborhood stage, these are as fertile as the concert hall.
maz: How does Miami/South Florida influence your work?
AP: Miami is a city of crossings, of languages, cultures, and diasporas. Since settling here, I've felt encouraged to break boundaries, whether by blending classical arrangements with popular songs, or by curating collaborations that draw on the city's jazz and intermedia scenes. Miami audiences are open, diverse, and curious; they make it possible to reimagine the guitar for settings beyond the elite recital hall.
maz: How would you describe your work?
AP: It is lyrical, hybrid, and collaborative. I am committed to acoustic excellence, but equally to accessibility: creating performances where a listener new to classical music feels at ease, and where connoisseurs hear something unexpected. My albums, The Great Cuban Suite (2021) and my forthcoming project surveying Latin American genres, follow this path.
maz: What was your “aha” moment where you knew that you had “arrived” as an artist?
Guitarist, composer and arranger Alberto Puerto (Photo Courtesy of Miri Paez Bolet)
AP: The release of The Great Cuban Suite in 2021 was a turning point. The album received a Cubadisco nomination, but more importantly, it confirmed that my instinct, to bridge classical forms with Cuban and Latin American roots, resonated with audiences beyond my immediate circle. That recognition gave me both confidence and responsibility to keep pushing the guitar forward.
maz: What has been the most unusual reaction to your work from the public?
AP: One of the most powerful and unusual reactions I've received was from a listener who, after a show, told me that my guitar "sounded like a voice remembering." That phrase has stayed with me. It showed me that the music had transcended just being sound and had become something more personal and deeply resonant, it had become memory itself. In those moments, I'm reminded that the true impact of art is often found in the unexplainable, in that space where interpretation and emotion connect.
maz: What would you like to achieve as an artist?
AP: My goal is to continue widening the audience for classical guitar by creating projects that are rigorous yet welcoming, rooted in tradition yet open to experimentation. I want my work to inspire both new generations of guitarists and audiences who might never have considered the instrument in this way.
For information, www.albertopuerto.com or (786) 564-7300.
