Unai Insausti
Classical music with a deep passion for the electric guitar and rock
Donostia, Spain
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Unai Insausti Eguia began studying the guitar at the age of eight under the guidance of Luis Hidalgo. A year later he entered the Segovia Professional Conservatory of Music, where he completed the elementary and intermediate levels with Flores Chaviano and Antonio Barrio.
In 2005 he began his higher studies at Musikene, the Higher Music Centre of the Basque Country (San Sebastián), training with Marco Socías and Antonio Duro and graduating in 2010. Before finishing his academic stage in Spain, he was selected by the renowned guitarist Aniello Desiderio to take postgraduate (master's) studies at the International Guitar Academy in Koblenz (Germany).
In December 2011, while taking a master's degree in music education at the
Complutense University of Madrid, he completed his final postgraduate examination in
Koblenz with the highest mark. He was then selected again
to continue his specialist studies under Aniello Desiderio and Hubert Käppel at the same institution.
In 2012 he completed his master's in music education in Madrid, and in 2013 he finished his
postgraduate studies in Germany, presenting as his final work a performance of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, conducted by Garrett Keast. That same year he moved to Italy to take the higher performance programme at the “Domenico Cimarosa” Conservatory in Avellino, again with Aniello Desiderio.
In 2014 he was admitted to the postgraduate programme in Repertoire Performance and Classical Guitar Development at Musikene, working with Marcos Socías. That same year he joined the Segovia Guitar Academy in Pordenone (Italy), where he studied with Paolo Pegoraro and Adriano del Sal.
In 2018 he obtained the highest mark in the master's degree in Performance and Performative Research at Alfonso X el Sabio University, under Professor Pilar Rius.
Alongside his career as a performer, Unai Insausti has developed intense teaching work. He has taught at the Leioa Professional Conservatory of Music (Biscay), at IE University (Madrid and Segovia) and at various music schools. Since 2019 he has taught at the Navarre Higher Conservatory of Music, where he holds the chair of Music and Performing Arts in the Classical Guitar speciality.
His institutional work also includes cultural management, as vice-president of the International Spanish Guitar Festival (FIGE).
His training is enriched by numerous advanced courses and masterclasses with artists such as Carles Trepat, Marco Tamayo, Ricardo Gallén, Álex Garrobé, Judicaël Perroy and Zoran Dukić, among others.
Unai Insausti's career has been recognised with numerous prizes at international competitions, among them the admira International Guitar Competition (Zarautz), the Andrés Segovia International Guitar Competition (Linares), and awards at the competitions of Peja (Kosovo), Sinaia (Romania), Changsha (China) and Fuji (Italy), as well as the Prize for the Best Performer of Andalusian Music at the Comarca del Condado de Jaén International Guitar Competition, among others. He has also performed as a soloist in many countries of Europe and Asia, and as a soloist with various orchestras.
In recent years, Unai Insausti has widened his artistic path beyond classical music, opening his knowledge to other fields such as the flamenco guitar, which he studied in Madrid with Óscar Herrero. At the same time he has developed professional work with the electric guitar, training with Kolibrí Díaz, Alberto Cereijo, Tony Waka and Paul Gilbert. He is currently part of the bands Bandoleros y Piratas and Desert Dust, and collaborates regularly with different groups. Among these collaborations is his participation with the band Marea on their 2025 Sin Riendas tour.
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Interview
admira: What made you start learning the guitar and keep going until you became a professional?
Unai: For as long as I can remember, from about five or six years old, I always wanted to be a guitarist. I don't remember ever imagining any other professional future. The guitar was my calling from a very early age and, for me, there was no alternative plan.
That enthusiasm is what took me into the conservatory. It was the natural way to get a formal training, and I kept moving forward year after year with the same motivation until I completed my higher studies. Then I went on specialising with master's and postgraduate studies, always with the aim of growing as a musician.
Since then, my professional life has always been tied to the guitar. I have developed my career both as a concert performer and as a teacher, two sides that I consider complementary and that have allowed me to devote myself fully to what I always dreamed of doing as a child.
admira: What do you look at when choosing a guitar?
Unai: The first thing I look at when choosing a guitar is the feeling the instrument gives me. For me it is fundamental to feel a connection with it, to identify both with its touch and with its sound. There are guitars that, from the very first moment, make you feel comfortable and invite you to play, and that sensation is very important.
From there, I look for an instrument with great sound quality, with a good balance between all the strings so that none stands out or falls behind the others and, of course, with excellent intonation. In the end, a good guitar is the combination of that personal connection with technical qualities that let you express yourself with complete freedom.
admira: What would you like to highlight about the admira Crossover, Artesanía Series?
Unai: What I would highlight most about this instrument is the great balance it achieves between comfort, sound quality and versatility. It is a very comfortable guitar to play, especially thanks to the cutaway in the lower bout, which makes access to the higher registers much easier without giving up the feel of a classical guitar.
It also has a very balanced sound and an excellent acoustic response but, at the same time, it offers the possibility of being amplified very simply and with a very natural result. That combination of a great acoustic instrument and the ease of using it amplified makes it a very complete, very practical guitar for all kinds of situations.
admira: Looking ahead… what would your ideal guitar, the one that does not exist yet, be like?
Unai: My ideal guitar, the one that perhaps does not yet exist, would be an instrument able to bring together the best of all worlds. I would like it to keep the sound of a traditional guitar, with that warm, very woody timbre I love so much, but at the same time to have great projection and a generous volume.
I would look for trebles that sang with brightness and clarity, and powerful, deep basses, but always perfectly balanced so that they never covered the trebles. It would also be important for it to keep good sustain, to respond with sensitivity to any nuance of interpretation and to offer great comfort when playing, with a flexible, natural feel.
And of course I would love for it to be amplifiable without losing the essence of its acoustic sound, keeping all its tonal richness and its personality. For me, that would be the ideal guitar: an instrument combining traditional sound with the performance and versatility today's musician needs.
admira: Tell us, what projects do you have on the horizon?
Unai: Looking ahead I have several very exciting projects and, moreover, very different from one another. In the field of the classical guitar, my intention is to keep developing my career as a concert performer, giving solo recitals and taking the opportunities that come up to perform with orchestras.
At the same time, I have a guitar duo project (classical and acoustic guitar) in which we play music of our own, a creative side that especially motivates me. I also share another project with a percussionist, in which we seek to join the classical guitar repertoire with the rhythmic richness and improvisation of jazz percussion.
And of course I am still very involved in my rock bands, a field in which I enjoy another way of understanding music and which perfectly complements my activity as a classical guitarist. I like being able to move between different styles because each of them gives me experiences and learning that enrich the way I play and understand music.
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