Rubén Portillo

Renowned for his dedication and sincere love for guitar music, Rubén Portillo has been praised as "one of the most gifted guitarists" by three-time Latin Grammy Awards nominee classical guitarist, Berta Rojas.

Rubén Portillo has won many competitions in his native Paraguay, including first prizes in the “Momento Musical Competition”, “Young Talent Competition” and “Takuare’e Competition”. Other top awards include an Honorable Mention by the Festival “Lago Ypacarai” and by the “Takuare’e Cultural Society”.

Rubén is frequently invited to perform for different organizations such as Apostar por la Vida Foundation and The Paraguayan-American Cultural Center. He was invited to perform at the United States Embassy his arrangement for classical guitar of the United States National Anthem and Paraguayan National Anthem. His arrangement of the Paraguayan Anthem was the first version for classical guitar in the original key and it got recorded for a music video produced by Telefuturo that still airs on national television in Paraguay. He has also performed with the Ensemble "Pu Rory" directed by Berta Rojas.

Rubén Portillo comes from Ciudad del Este, Paraguay and started playing guitar at the age of 7. In Paraguay, he studied with Agustin Zaracho, Felipe Sosa, Luz Maria Bobadilla and Berta Rojas and in Argentina, with Victor Villadangos. In 2017 he moved to United States to join the studio of Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University where he is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Music degree. Ruben is a recipient of The Tuition Scholarship sponsored by the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation.