Carles Herraiz was born in Barcelona in 1967 and started out with music at the age of seven, when he attended his first guitar lessons in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, the town where he lived during childhood and youth. Two years later, he began his musical studies at the Conservatory of Badalona, where he studied guitar with Sebastián Villalta and Vicenç Mayol. He graduated from the Superior Conservatory of Music of Barcelona with top marks. Subsequently, he continued his studies with José Tomás in Alicante, and at the ‘Escola d’Arts Musicals Luthier’ in Barcelona.
During his musical career, Carles Herraiz has been fortunate to meet some of the great guitarists of the latest decades and he has attended classes with several of them, such as Armando Marrosu, David Russell, Leo Brouwer, Alvaro Pierri, Eduardo Fernández, Manuel Barrueco, Gerardo Arriaga, Elliot Fisk, Pepe Romero and Rafael Cañizares, among others. In recent years he has dedicated himself to the study of the repertoire of contemporary music for guitar, which has led him to premiere works by spanish composers (Carles Guinovart, Jordi Rossinyol, Nino Diaz, Delfin Colomé, José Pablo Polo) for both solo guitar and double bass and guitar duo. Recently,he has also recorded a CD titled “Un Sueño en la Floresta” (A Dream in the Forest) with music by South American composers.
Carles Herraiz has performed as soloist, with chamber music groups, symphony orchestras and with the duo ‘Zobel’ in various Spanish cities and towns, as well as in Andorra, Italy, Cuba, Mexico and South Korea. Moreover, his interpretation has been awarded in national and international competitions in Spain and Italy, such as the ones held in Zarautz, Comillas, Cuenca, Granada, Lleida, Sassari and Mottola. It is a part of the duo Àstrid flute and guitar and guitar quartet Terpsícore.
His career as an interpreter has always been linked to teaching and, in this way, Carles Herraiz has taught courses at national and international festivals, and since 1995 he has been a teacher at the Municipal Conservatory of Lleida.