“John May, impressing his sizable audience with the technical perfection and stylistic integrity of his performance, received prolonged applause for his colorful and demanding performance.” wrote Delaware Gazette music critic Paul Schwartz about John’s concert at the Delaware County Cultural Arts Center.

John May is known to audiences in Columbus and around Ohio as a guitarist who plays exciting eclectic programs of solo instrumental guitar music. He has presented programs across a gamut of venues ranging from cafes to concert stages, enthusiastically performing repertoire ranging from popular easy listening fare to rare contemporary minimalist composers.

Prior to expanding his own private guitar instruction studio, John was on the faculty and taught guitar at Kenyon College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Otterbein College, and Capital University. While at Kenyon college he directed the Kenyon Guitar Ensemble, a group that regularly performed in recitals and won a music faculty award. John is currently on the faculty of the City of Upper Arlington's LifeLong Learning & Leisure program where he teaches adult Basic Guitar.

John performed as a soloist with the Knox County Symphony and the Central Ohio Symphony. He gave two concerts for the February by the fire music series at the Worthington Public Library. He was a featured artist on the Columbus Guitar Society's Guitar Concert Series. John performed many faculty recitals both as soloist and chamber musician while on the music faculty of Kenyon college. He also performed as a soloist at First Night Columbus celebrations and on Thursday night champaign strolls during several Columbus Arts Festivals. He has given concerts at the Upper Arlington Public Library, the Grandview Heights Public Library, and the Carnegie Public Library in Washington Court House, Ohio. He gave well-attended concerts two years in a row at the Fine Arts Building of the Ohio State Fair. He has presented guitar performances on "ArtsMania" days at Columbus Academy and performed during Foreign Language Week at The Wellington School. John is also on the artist roster of the Greater Columbus Arts Council Artists-in-Schools program and is frequently selected to perform for educational institutions, art gallery openings, and corporate events.

John’s first guitar instructors were Cuban guitarist Dr. Mario Abril and American Bruce Holzman. Subsequently John had instruction from world class guitarists such as Eduardo Fernandez, Benjamin Verdery, and Scott Tennant. He has also performed in master classes of Stephen Aron, Ricardo Cobo, Eduardo Fernandez, Frank Koonce, Tom Kikta, Steven Robinson, Aaron Shearer, Scott Tennant and Benjamin Verdery,

John earned the Master of Music and Master of Fine Arts degrees from Ohio University and his composition “Emerging”, a contemporary octet, merited a recital performance. This composition had the distinction of being the first music score at Ohio University to be composed and printed using music engraving software on a Macintosh computer.

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