Aaron Haas is a classical guitarist, guitar teacher, arranger, and meditation teacher currently based in Seattle. A skilled communicator and expressive performer, both his teaching and performing aim to open us to what it’s like to be fully human, fully alive. From a family of singer-songwriters he learned the power of a musical narrative early on, and with extensive background in meditation he strives to perform music from a place of silence and aliveness.

Aaron began playing electric guitar and writing songs at age 16 and only picked up the classical guitar as a sophomore at Skidmore College at 19. He graduated Summa Cum Laude, having been nominated for the coveted Periclean Scholar’s Award for his senior recital, and moved to Italy the following year to study with the Italian virtuoso, Lorenzo Micheli. After two years of private study at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, he moved back to the US to pursue his master’s degree with a pupil of Micheli’s at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Nicolò Spera. Here his interest in chamber music developed, reconnecting him with his love for songs while studying Lieder with Schubert scholar Yonatan Malin, and performing Britten’s “Songs from the Chinese” with a singer in the graduate program. He also collaborated with woodwind and string players, including the award-winning Altius Quartet, performing Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Quintet Op. 143. Upon completing his master’s degree, Aaron attended the prestigious Accademia Chigiana in Siena with Oscar Ghiglia in the summer of 2015, learning from the famous student of Andres Segovia, as well as Micheli’s own teacher.

The following Fall, having accepted a scholarship to study for his Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Southern California, he began studying with William Kanengiser in Los Angeles. Aaron’s time at USC planted many seeds that would soon bear fruit. One was combining Aaron’s meditation practice with his music practice, resulting, among other things, in an article published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Singing in 2018 entitled “Creativity Through Silence: Exploring the Use of Meditation in Musical Performance.” Additionally, he met soprano Anastasia Malliaras, and the two co-founded the voice-guitar duo, “Duo Apollon.” The pair won the Beverly Hills Auditions in 2019, toured the entire central/southern California region, and in 2023 released their first album through Navona Records entitled “Folksongs.” Finally, at USC Kanengiser helped Aaron learn the art of arranging, the scope of which now ranges from Bach, to Art Songs (including de Falla’s “Siete Canciones” and Ravel’s “Cinq Melodies”), to pieces adapted from film to the classical guitar.

Aaron’s path in meditation has also enjoyed a long and fruitful life, though much more in the background of his activities. Since 2014 Aaron has been a student of psychotherapist and spiritual teacher John J. Prendergast PhD, who comes from the lineages of Zen-trained Adyashanti and European Advaita Vedanta master Jean Klein. After a silent retreat with John in 2017, Aaron began offering meditations to fellow music students at USC and has continued ever since. He taught a class with the religious center at USC in 2018, started the “Sound from Silence” YouTube channel, and is currently a meditation teacher with “Yoga for All Musicians,” an online Yoga group geared specifically for musicians. He plans to start a weekly online sit for free for anyone interested, so stay tuned!