Classical guitarist Alejandro Rowinsky plays Drayton Hall for Piccolo Spoleto
by Lorne Chambers | Editor
As the 2025 Spoleto Festival USA comes to a close this month, so does its little sister festival, Piccolo Spoleto, which is put on by the City of Charleston’s Cultural Affairs Department. Celebrating its 45th year, Piccolo Spoleto again brought an impressive collection of both regional and world-class art and performances to Charleston … just not very much to West Ashley, unfortunately. Despite being by far the largest population center within the City of Charleston, there have been very few cultural offerings on our side of the river this year.
Even compared to past festivals, there have not been many events in West Ashley, aside from two Piccolo pop-ups in local parks and a single free organ recital, which was held at John Wesley United Methodist Church only after a storm caused damage to its original downtown venue. The only ticketed event on the Piccolo Event schedule that is held in West Ashley this year is acclaimed classical guitarist, composer, arranger, and actor Alejandro Rowinsky’s performance at Drayton Hall on Saturday, June 7.
Rowinsky’s versatile performance repertoire spans decades of music, covering the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras, as well as hits from the past 60 years. With a sound that’s often described as atmospheric and emotional, Rowinsky skillfully turns any song into an instrumental guitar piece by retaining its familiar melody and harmony while adding a charming elegance. He’s known for his passionate and inventive style, which explores connections between the various traditions of South American folklore, blues, rock, flamenco, contemporary music, and electronic sounds.
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Rowinsky began his musical journey on the electric guitar. He was inspired by the Latin American guitar rhythms and the influence of ’80s rock music. At the age of 17, he composed his first instrumental work and formed a rock band called Los Pajaros Pintados. But his real progress began after he met and took guitar classes with Uruguayan musician, composer, and professor Amilcar Rodriguez Inda, who immediately discovered Rowinsky’s creative talent and encouraged him to study classical music.
In 1996, Rowinsky wrote and recorded the music for the science documentary Las Aranas Seres Increibles (the spiders are amazing beings), which was shown by the Institute of Biological Investigations in Uruguay. Later, he was invited to join the folk band Zucara, where he explored the music of Latin America and toured throughout Uruguay.
Rowinsky, now an American citizen, eventually moved to Miami, where he began composing music, recording songs in Spanish, and sharing stages with other local Latin musicians. While living in Miami, Rowinsky took master classes with legendary Cuban guitarist Rey Guerra.
While in Miami, his two musical worlds—composing melodic songs in Spanish and playing classical guitar from the Renaissance—began to merge. By then, he had composed more than one hundred classical guitar compositions and more than 50 original songs.
Eventually, Rowinsky made his way north to Orlando, where he auditioned for a musician role at Walt Disney World. He became the guitarist for the live performance of Princess Elena’s Royal Welcome, which was performed several times a day on the Cinderella Castle stage at the Magic Kingdom.
From that moment, new opportunities began emerging for Rowinsky. He was invited to come to New York to play a guitar concert at Mise-En-Place, a contemporary classical concert series.
Invitations and accolades continued to come in for Rowinsky, who was nominated for “Guitarist of the Year” at the 2014 Los Angeles Music Awards and represented Uruguay at the 2016 International Festival of Songs. In 2020-2021, he played at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, and in 2022 he became the Musician-in-Residence at Creede Repertory Theatre in Creede, CO.
Rowinsky has also ventured into the realms of theatre and film. He has acted in the Tony Award-winning musical Man of La Mancha. Rowinsky appeared in the film The Eyes of Tammy Faye, starring Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield.
Rowinsky also appeared in an episode of the HBO series The Righteous Gemstones, which is filmed in Charleston, with its production facility being at the Citadel Mall in West Ashley. In the episode, Rowinsky plays electric guitar for the ‘80s flashback scene featuring Jennifer Nettles and Walton Goggins performing the hilarious tune “Misbehavin’,” which was written for the show by creator Danny McBride and co-star Edi Patterson, who is also performing improv comedy at Theatre 99 downtown as part of the Piccolo Fringe series.
