Meet Alberto Puerto | Musician. Composer, Instructor, and Performer.

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

Hi Alberto, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I didn’t actually decide to pursue an artistic career, the career chose me. Music is what I know, and it’s how I was trained all my life in my country, Cuba. I left Cuba with just my music degree in hand and made my living in South America teaching and playing. These past few years in the United States, I’ve just been working with the music business as it exists today, with the massive transformations that have occurred since I began in this field. It’s one of the arts that has seen the most changes in the past 10 years so it’s a special challenge in that sense. I guess I like that kind of challenge when it comes to composing, teaching, and playing, what I know best.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I would say that I am a guitarist first and then an artist. I am as syncretic as every Caribbean artist and more syncretic than most. Of course I am deeply rooted in the classical European tradition but my nature as a Cuban artist and the many years I spent in South America have deeply affected my practice. For me, South America was a training ground for finding my way outside of the musical world that I knew, of the place that I had earned in it through a lifetime of competition. I succeeded by staying firm in my vision of who I am no matter how much the environment tried to influence me.

It hasn’t been easy to arrive at this place where I am an independent working artist with a school of my own. My recent arrival in Miami, of course, brought a rush of Cuban memories and my first album recording, The Great Cuban Suite, was inspired by this contact. I had to express the intergenerational stories I saw here with an album that takes the listener through decades of Cuban music using the guitar. I am now working on an album that moves across the wider Latin American space with the workings of the guitar highlighted in lots of new ways. There is such a push in today’s music world to be a sort of “all in one” artist that is pushed through the same funnels as the rest. One take home message about my work is that you can’t be afraid to specialize or to build a logical order of factors that will lead to success.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I vouch for Coral Gables-it’s my city and it brings together the best of a small town within a large city. You can walk over to Books and Books and listen to live music or ask Raul at the bar to sing. There are now constant live shows at Sanctuary of the Arts. Visual arts are sparkling at Cernuda Arte, ArtSpace Virginia Miller Galleries, and The Americas Collection. And the restaurants? A Friday night at the Biltmore Bar or a Saturday night at the Globe are perfect and won’t break the bank.

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?
Since I came to the US, I’ve been supported by a strong community of artists in Miami, especially composer and guitarist Jose Luis de la Paz, the Spanish Cultural Center, and the fine art gallery dedicated to the advancement of Cuban artists, Cernuda Arte in Coral Gables.

Website: https://www.albertopuerto.com/

Instagram: @puertoguitar

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alberto-puerto-b0968076/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alberto.puerto.391

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AlbertoPuerto/featured

Image Credits
Miri Paez Bollet