La Rotta, Esteban

Esteban La Rotta is one of Canada’s leading lutenists. In demand as both a soloist and continuo player, he studied at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano under the guidance of lutenist Paul Beier, and in Montreal with Sylvain Bergeron where he received his doctorate in performance degree in 2008 specializing on the baroque guitar. As a specialist in a variety of early plucked instruments, Mr. La Rotta has extensive experience with the repertoire of late middle ages as well as with the early Baroque Italian and French repertoire for solo theorbo. He is a regular participant in the Festival Montréal Baroque and has performed with ensembles such as Les Violons du Roy, Les Voix Humaines, La Nef, the SMAM, Montreal Baroque band and Ensemble Caprice. He has appeared in numerous festivals including Musique Royale, Boston Early Music Festival, Seattle Early Music Guild, Montreal Baroque Tage Alter Musik in Regensburg (Germany), Lamèque Early Music Festival, Stratford Festival, the National Arts Center in Ottawa, and the Orford Music Festival. His performances have been broadcasted nationwide on the CBC in Canada and the BBC in England. La Rotta’s medieval group, Ensemble La Rota, was the 2005 winner of both the Jury and People's Choice prizes at the CBC Galaxie/Montreal Baroque Competition, and the first prize winner of the 2006 Early Music America competition.