James Stroud

Classical Guitar Competition

2024

presented by the

Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival®

and hosted by the

Cleveland Institute of Music

Steven Lerman (USA)

Steven Lerman is a classical guitarist, originally from San Diego, California who has established himself as one of the top American players of his generation. In just a few years of competing, Steven has won prizes in twenty-five international guitar competitions – including ten first prizes. In addition to his success in classical guitar competitions, Steven is one of the few guitarists to win the Frances Walton Competition in Seattle, a competition open to all classical instruments. As part of the first prize, he performed live on King FM Seattle, and gave over thirty concerts and school assemblies across Washington State.

Since being selected as a performer for the Promising Artists of the 21st Century Tour in 2014, Steven Lerman has taught, performed, and made radio appearances across the U.S., and in Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, and France. In 2019, Steven was featured on a CD with the two time Grammy award nominated choir True Concord. The CD reached top ten on the Billboard and ITunes classical charts.

Mr. Lerman taught for seven years as a graduate teaching assistant at both Florida State University and the University of Arizona where he completed his doctoral degree in 2019. He is currently guitar faculty at Pima College in Arizona where he has been a part of recruiting one of the larger programs of its kind in the U.S. In addition to teaching at the collegiate level, Mr. Lerman teaches music through a University of Arizona run outreach program, for which he has taught a classical guitar curriculum at sixteen underserved public schools across Arizona in the last five years.

Artist's website: stevenlermanguitar.com/