Following classical training and studies in musicology and jazz, Sébastien Llinares was noticed at the International Music Academy of Cagliari (Sardinia). As a result, he received a scholarship to join Rafael Andia’s class at the École Normale Supérieure de Musique in Paris. Further supported by the Zalesky Foundation, he quickly obtained his Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste. At this stage his professor commented that “Sébastien has a unique talent that puts him on a par with the greatest. A limitless technique allied with a remarkable sound give his music uncommon strength. He shows such facility that one never notices any effort, which is rare even among the greatest guitarists”. Today, Sébastien Llinares explores the repertoire with the intention of creating a new contemporary guitar style, where formal clarity, historical consciousness and spontaneity are allied in a dialogue between styles and epochs.
He plays a modern concert guitar by the luthier Graham Caldersmith and a Baroque guitar by Charles Besnainou.
Sébastien Llinares regularly gives recitals in France and abroad. Chamber music and ensemble music are major components of Llinares’s work. Olivier Desbordes’s Opéra Éclaté invited him to create two productions: the operetta La Belle de Cadix with the Saint-Céré orchestra, and Cantares, a recital of Spanish music with the singer Sarah Laulan. These two shows have toured throughout France.
On occasion he creates more unusual shows, such as a version of the J. S. Bach guitar repertoire revisited in Flamenco style with the Serge Lopez Guitares Trio, or the 2013 Festival of Rabastens Chambre avec vues, where he conceived a show for quartet of guitars and percussion dedicated to American music.
More recently, he formed the Duo Mélisande with guitarist Nicolas Lestoquoy.
Sébastien Llinares teaches at the Conservatoire Erik Satie in the 7th Arrondissement in Paris. He also teaches a class at the Conservatoire International de Musique in Paris.