Dr. Daniel De Arakal

Daniel de Arakal, D.M.A., has an established reputation as a scholar, performer and advocate for music education. Through his teaching work in primary and secondary education, development of a nationally recognized guitar curriculum, and creation of repertoire for guitarists of all ages and skill levels, Daniel is dedicated to expanding the reach of and access to the classical guitar, its immense repertoire and its rich history.

Daniel studied several musical instruments before discovering the guitar at age 17, when he began working with his first teacher, Nic Nichol, who introduced him to the world of classical guitar. Shortly thereafter, Daniel enrolled at Chapman University where he studied under Jeff Cogan. Upon completing his bachelor’s degrees in guitar performance and composition, Daniel enrolled at the University of Southern California. Here he earned a master’s degree in classical guitar performance while studying with Martha Masters and Scott Tennant, and performed in master classes with renowned guitarists such as Pepe Romero, Shingo Fujii and Denis Azabagic. Daniel completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Claremont Graduate University where he studied under Jack Sanders. It was here where Daniel recorded and released the album Guitaromanie: A Celebration of Carulli and Sor, in which he recorded works written in Paris in the early 19th century on a period instrument.

During his studies at USC, Daniel began arranging music for classical guitar. His desire to expand the repertoire for guitar ensemble led him to arrange piano and orchestral works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Dmitri Shostakovich, Claude Debussy and more. Additionally, Daniel began to study the lute tablature of Silvius Leopold Weiss and has created several classical guitar transcriptions of these tremendous works. Daniel's arrangements are published through Les Productions d'OZ.

In 2013, Daniel began teaching group and individual guitar classes at Chapman University and, in 2015, began serving as the guitar program coordinator at Orange County School of the Arts. It was at OCSA that he designed and implemented a Guitar-Foundation-of-America-certified curriculum, exemplifying the GFA’s standards of excellence in guitar education, in addition to teaching classical guitar history, arranging, composition and performance for junior high and high school students. In conjunction with his educational work, Daniel serves as president of the Orange County Guitar Circle, one of Southern California’s largest classical guitar societies.