Inside Classical Guitar

Recent Episodes


November 6: New Releases! – Host W. Mark Akin shares new releases of music composed by Agustín Barrios, Domenico Scarlatti, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and more; with performances by Thibaut Garcia, Miloš Karadaglić, Johan Smith, and the Gateway Guitar Quartet.

October 30: Remembering Lily Afshar – Host W. Mark Akin shares performances by Iranian-American classical guitarist Lily Afshar, who died of cancer last week. Hear music of Isaac Albéniz, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Leo Brouwer, and others.

October 23: Mark’s Favorites, Pt. 2 – Host W. Mark Akin shares compositions by Federico Moreno Torroba, Manuel de Falla, and more; with performances from John McClellan and Kirk Hanser, and more.

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About W. Mark Akin


Award-winning classical guitarist W. Mark Akin is a St. Louis-based musician who has engaged audiences across the country with his dynamic on-stage presence and musicality. Mark has won prizes in numerous competitions such as the Wilson Center Guitar Competition in Wisconsin, Beethoven Club Competition in Memphis, the University of Arizona’s Beeston Competition and Sholin Competition, and was most recently selected as a winner of the Artist Presentation Society of St. Louis Competition.

Mark  has performed in master classes and taken lessons with some of the greatest guitarists in the world, including Sergio and Odair Assad, Manuel Barrueco, David Russell, and Jason Vieaux, Olivier Chassain, Marcin Dylla, and Adam Holzman. An active teacher, Mark has taught innumerable private lessons and classes. In addition to being on faculty at Washington University, he works with the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society’s outreach education initiative entitled Guitar Horizons.