Guitar Faculty

Yousif is a classical guitarist and composer from Berkeley, California. Interest in music as a teenager led him to study the bass guitar and arabic oud. His mother encouraged this interest, and took him to many concerts of classical and world music at UC Berkeley. Here he discovered the flamenco guitar, and in college began to study with flamenco guitarist, composer, and writer Gustavo Alonso López. He would later transfer to UC Santa Cruz to study classical guitar under virtuosos Christopher Mallett and William Coulter. It was during these studies that he fell in love with the works of great guitar composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos, Jorge Morel, and Sergio Assad among many others. At UCSC Yousif also further pursued his interest in world and traditional music, being introduced to fundamentals of Indian classical music by masters Ashwin Batish and Dard Neuman. He received his B.A. in Music in 2025.

Yousif’s interests as a composer include pushing forward the classical guitar as a medium with contemporary technique and compositional style, diversifying classical guitar repertoire to incorporate musical styles from popular and world music, and combining the classical guitar with the arabic oud and a wide variety of instrumentations. He’s also interested in writing music that tells the stories of the many great people who inspire him, writing for guitar ensemble, and writing pieces of progressive difficulty to allow students of any skill level to find something they enjoy practicing and performing. In 2024, Yousif received 1st place in the South Bay Guitar Society’s composition competition, and in 2025 received the UCSC dean’s award in arts for his compositions performed by the UCSC guitar ensemble.

Yousif spends his days practicing, teaching, performing, studying, and composing, and has plans to pursue further studies in music including a masters degree and studying global music traditions abroad. He also enjoys a handful of non-musical interests including martial arts, yoga, videogames, hiking, and watching stand-up comedy.