Frank Koonce is internationally acclaimed as a performer, teacher, and writer. He holds degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts and from Southern Methodist University and was a Fulbright Scholar and performer in Italy. His creative output includes authoritative guitar editions of Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete solo lute works and his solo violin Sonatas and Partitas, as well as many other publications of original guitar compositions. He made the world-premiere recording in English of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “Platero and I” for narrator and guitar, followed by another version in the original Spanish that was chosen for an animated DVD video produced in Spain. Professor Koonce  also recorded an album entitled “A Southwest Christmas” with the Phoenix Bach Choir and is featured in a live concert video with Russian composer/guitarist, Nikita Koshkin. As a founding partner of Soundset Recordings, he has produced and co-produced other classical compact discs, including a premiere recording of orchestral works by Alan Hovhaness, which was part of the soundtrack for Paramount’s award-winning film “There Will Be Blood.”

A Professor of Music, Frank Koonce directed the guitar program at Arizona State University from 1978 to 2018. He was Director of “Guitar Festival 1987” an international event jointly sponsored by the Guitar Foundation of America and the American String Teachers Association, and later served as Chair the GFA Advisory Board. As a performer, he has recitals to his credit in England, Korea, Macedonia, Taiwan, China, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Mexico, Spain, the Czech Republic, Austria, and throughout the United States.