Libertoca Brings Live Acoustic Guitar Music to Downtown

Live guitar downtown! Libertoca brings their unique guitar music to the amazing new outdoor Backyard space at 8th and Penn at 5 pm on Thursday, September 1st. FREE admission! There will be food trucks and beverages available, plus cushy grass to sit down on, as well as tables and benches.

Libertoca is the  Latin-flavored guitar duo of John Marcinizyn and Daryl Shawn. With a strong focus on original music and influences from flamenco to jazz, they create an energetic, highly rhythmic sound full of exciting interplay.

Pittsburgh based guitarist, composer, banjoist John Marcinizyn performs frequently as a soloist, with contralto Daphne Alderson, in the Ferla-Marcinizyn Guitar Duo, Duo Cieli (flute and guitar duo), The Red Hot Ramblers (Dixieland jazz) and groups ranging from The Bach Choir of Pittsburgh to Billy Price. His versatility as an acoustic and electric guitarist allows him to perform in many styles including classical, jazz, flamenco, rock, blues, and folk. John has also performed guitar and banjo for many theater companies.  His playing can be heard on eight CDs and one DVD. His Latest CDs are “Blue Ride”(a collection of original instrumentalas), and “Duo Cieli-North Side Sessions” (music for flute and guitar with Tara Yaney). John holds a Ph. D. in music composition and theory from the University of Pittsburgh, and is an Artist-Lecturer in guitar and composition at Carnegie Mellon University and Seton Hill University.

Daryl Shawn grew up among Amish farms in rural Pennsylvania, studied classical and flamenco guitar in between jazz classes at Berklee College of Music, then moved to Oaxaca, Mexico, where he spent five years focusing on the solo guitar before settling in Pittsburgh, PA. He has released seven albums and performed over 500 times in 33 states, as well as Canada and Mexico. His videos have been viewed over 800,000 times on YouTube.  He maintains a full schedule of solo performances in Pittsburgh, and since the COVID pandemic began he has performed over 500 streaming live shows from his home.

Together they perform their own dynamic original compositions, plus their own unique take on a wide variety of classic cover songs.