Ramon Fermin is the founder and director of Bowstring Academy. Ramon has been teaching guitar professionally since 2008. He draws upon his own history of learning the guitar, his extensive formal training and on-the-job experience as a professional performer, and countless hours of teaching experience to formulate Bowstring Academy’s core curriculum.

In addition to his private teaching practice, Ramon is an Adjunct Professor of Music at Pacific Union College, where he teaches guitar classes and private lessons, and also teaches guitar classes for the Hillsborough Recreation Department.

Ramon has served as a guitarist with artists on national and international tours, performing extensively throughout North America, as well as: Germany, the Netherlands, England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Montenegro, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Turkey, Chile, and Brazil.

As a session musician, Ramon has contributed guitar and bass performances to studio albums, short film scores, and commercials. He has also played on many live theatric and spoken word productions.

An enthusiastic collaborator, Ramon has had the privilege of playing on the first performances of many recent concert works for acoustic, electric and classical guitars.

Ramon was a co-founder of the innovative electric guitar ensemble Ignition Duo. Ignition Duo premiered over two dozen new chamber works for their unique instrumentation, through intensive collaborations with composers. Performance highlights included the 2016 Spoleto festival, where it was said they “grooved, jammed, and shredded with Mozartian precision.” (The Post and Courier, Charleston). Ignition Duo was awarded a grant from the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music to record their album Ablaze Amidst the Horns, released in 2015.

Ramon was a member of the acclaimed San Francisco Guitar Quartet from 2014 - 2019. During Ramon’s tenure with the group, SFGQ were featured artists at the University of Louisville Guitar Festival, the Dayton Guitar Society, and the Knoxville guitar society.

Ramon has performed and/or recorded with: Magik Magik Orchestra, Frances England, Spoleto Festival Orchetra, Lightbulb Ensemble, Il Divo, Wild Rumpus, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Hot Air Music Festival Orchestra, New Music Works, and the Andronica String Trio, among other artists.

Ramon creates original music with his band Hunters Chorus, which recently released The Ping Pong Ball Career Center EP in the summer of 2022. Their second full length album The Boy Ain’t Right, was released in the summer of 2021 following their Live at the Atomic Garden EP and video, also released that year. The single Arrows over Broadway was released in the fall of 2020. Their debut album Old Growler was released in the fall of 2018.

Ramon first learned music from his grandmother, pianist Lydia Fermin. He began playing the guitar at eight years old. His early guitar teachers were Eric Cabalo and Norris Large, and he later went on to study with John Dearman, Marc Teicholz, and Marcin Dylla, earning degrees in guitar performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (Master of Music) and the University of California at Santa Barbara (Bachelor of Music). During his formative years Ramon attended masterclasses at the Mediterranean Guitar Festival, The Volterra Summer Guitar Institute, the Nurtingen International Guitar Festival, the New York Guitar Seminar at the Mannes School of Music, Boston Guitarfest, and the Santa Barbara International Guitar Festival.