Campus Directory

Division Arts Division

Department/College/Unit Music Department

Title Flute Faculty

Affiliation Faculty

Web Site

Mail Stop Music Center

Biography, Education and Training

Described by the New York Times as "an imaginative artist,"  Chilean-born flutist, Viviana Guzmán (www.viviana.org) performs over 80 concerts a year throughout the world.   Her classical recording “Traveling Sonata” received a GRAMMY Nomination and her world music recording “Song of the Whale” received a Global Music Awards Gold Medal. She gave a very successful TEDxBerkeley Talk, presenting just before Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder of Apple, Inc.  She has been featured on programs for CNN, PBS, NBC, ABC, Good Morning America and NPR, seen on the cover of Latina Style Magazine, and in COSMOPOLITAN en Español and has performed in 137 countries, and in all 7 continents including South Africa, Ireland, Spain, Brazil, Bali, India, Peru, Japan, China, Argentina, Greece,  Antarctica often featuring flutes from her collection of over 100 gathered from concert tours. Her YouTube Channel boasts over 2.7 million views and her music videos have been aired on UNIVISION in 30 countries.  She has performed as soloist with 265 ensembles including orchestras in Russia, Chile, Brazil, Vermont, New York, Wisconsin, California, Texas, Montana, Philippines, in such halls as in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, and other prominent stages with such artists as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Placido Domingo, Glenn Close, and with orchestras Leonard Slatkin, Zubin Mehta, Larry Foster, David Stern, Michael Tilson Thomas, James DePriest, Anthony Parnther.

Viviana began her musical training at the age of 5 and won her first competition at 7.  By the age of 15, she played as a soloist with orchestra,  studied with Jean-Pierre Rampal, and was featured on a John Denver nationally televised NBC special "Music in the Mountains".  Ms. Guzmán studied with Albert Tipton and in Masterclasses with James Galway, and graduated from the Juilliard School where she was a student of Julius Baker.  A former member of the Houston Grand Opera and the New World Symphony, Viviana has released eleven multi-genre solo CD’s entitled, "Telemann Flute Fantasies" (classical), “Planet Flute” (world), and “Danza de Amor” (latin), “A World of Music” (world), “Mostly Tango” (tango) and "Serenity" (National Geographic) "Meditations" (new age),  "Argentine Music" (world) “Traveling Sonata” (classical), “Song of the Whale” (world) and “Let There Be Flute” (covers).   

Last season included appearances in New Orleans, Honolulu, American Samoa, Mexico, Thailand, Panama, Peru, Chile,  Argentina, Philippines, Taiwan, Tahiti, Easter Island, California, and as a soloist with the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra in the Seoul Arts Center, Korea, Hanoi (Vietnam) Symphony Orchestra, and the Philippines Philharmonic Orchestra in Manila.  Viviana has taught masterclasses in 75 universities throughout the world including The Juilliard School, San Francisco Conservatory, Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan, Jakarta Conservatory, Beijing Central Conservatory, Seoul National University, National University of Singapore, Hanoi Conservatory of Music, Malaya Conservatory of Music in Kuala Lumpur, among others. 

Viviana Guzman teaches Flute at the University of California, Santa Cruz and is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Flute Society & Festival, Founder of Flutes by the Sea Masterclasses, Co-Founder of The Flute View Magazine, and is an Altus Flutes Artist. Viviana conducts the Peninsula Youth Orchestra Flute Choir.